Shakespeare in Love
by TheNobleSavage
Summary: When Jack and the gang get sucked into auditioning for the school play, Kim and Jack get forced into a very awkward situation. With Jack wrestling about his feelings for Kim, how is he going to be able to pull off being Romeo in Romeo and Juliet with Kim as his Juliet? And how is the gang going to adapt to Shakespeare and theatre kids? Find out in Shakespeare in Love.
1. Chapter 1

Jack was tired of all of this in-between nonsense. For the past two years, he and Kimberly Crawford had played a tango that was driving him up the wall. At fourteen years old he was able to handle all of his emotions because the only thing he saw when he looked at Kim then was a pretty blonde with an aptitude for karate. Now that they were older, Jack saw her as much more than just pretty. There was no word in the English language to describe Kimberly Crawford- beautiful, stunning, ravishing and sexy only scratched the surface. Yet, now that he was sixteen years old all of his feelings for Kim went just below the surface; hell, all of his feelings for Kim burned him every second and everyday and he was tired of this never-ending game they played.

The shaggy haired brunette did not know if Kim felt the same way for him that he felt about her, but he was sure as hell ready to find out. If he did not ask her soon his plethora of teenage emotions would fill him up like a balloon and he would blow up. It would be better to tell her the way he felt and be rejected then run the risk of never knowing and loosing her to someone else. Loosing her to someone else was the worse of the latter two; Jack hated whenever other boys even looked at Kim. They were not dating, not even close, but other guys knew the way that he looked at her and felt about her. There was no honor left among teenage boys, no one cared to respect Jack's feelings toward the blonde.

However, he was glad that Kim had never really been able to keep down a steady boyfriend. Every guy she ended up dating ended up being a jerk, which worked in Jack's favor. It made him more confident in the fact that he was the right guy for her, while everyone else was just the training ground for their eventual relationship. But Jerry, Milton and Eddie kept telling Jack that if he continued to put off telling Kim the way he felt that they would never have a relationship.

That was why he was going to tell Kim today the way that he felt. There was no need to beat around the bush anymore. There was never going to be a perfect time or a perfect place, he just had to be in the moment and hope for the best. Kim was the best.

So as the final bell rang for eighth period, Jack collected his geometry text book and scurried his way out of the classroom as quickly as he could. As much as he enjoyed geometry, Mr. Fitzgerald was a jerk and was the type of teacher that singled Jack out in class to make an example to his other students. Getting stuck in the max exodus with the other students in his class would not be good for him, so he literally ran out of the door.

Once he was free and clear of the clutches of Mr. Fitzgerald, Jack started to even out his gate to get to his locker. Upon reaching his locker he saw his entire group of friends minus Kim. "Hey guys", he began, "Where is Kim?"

Milton, who was struggling pulling an absurd telescope out of his backpack, replied, "I believe she's still in gym. Mr. Duncan never gives anyone extra time to change at the end of the period if it's the last class of the day."

"For real man," Jerry continued, "I had him last year for eighth period and he was always on my case for thinking gym should end ten minutes early to give us time to change."

Eddie laughed and clapped his hand on Jerry's shoulder, "No Jerry. Duncan was always on your case because you never participated in gym. You sat on the side and gawked at the girls in shorts."

Jack could not help but crack at smile at Eddie comment. In an attempt to defend himself Jerry retorted, "Nah man. I just appreciate the female body- is that a crime."

"Only the way you do it, Jerry," a sweet sounding voice rang from just behind Jack's head. His chocolate eyes widened, he did not even need to turn around to know who was addressing the group.

"Hey Kim," Milton greeted. Kim had joined their small gathering in the hallway. Jack tried not to show any signs of discomfort at her sudden appearance, but he was finding it very difficult to breath at the moment. All day he had worked over in his head exactly what to say to Kim when he told her his true feelings, but now that he was actually seeing her dressed in a powder blue skirt, a pink tank top and a pair of sneakers she was far too cute to even breach that topic. How was he supposed to tell her that he liked her when she walked around looking so beautiful. It was nearly impossible and it was all her fault. If she was not so stunning and perfect they would not have this problem, but, no, Kim had to be the most gorgeous person Jack had ever had the pleasure to meet. Stupid Kim.

As Jack mulled over just how peppy Kim looked in her tank top, a voice brought him back into the conversation and out of his head, "Um Jack… my eyes are up here." It was Kim again.

When Jack looked to meet her eyes all he saw was one cocked eyebrow in anger at his blatant disrespect for her body. He had not meant to zone out and stare at her breasts like he had, it was just that when he zoned out it happened to be the last place that he had been looking.

A blush crept up on his face and he got out, "I wasn't looking there Kim, I zoned out. Don't flatter yourself."

She scoffed at his cover, which it seemed she had bought for the time being, and threw back, "Well your zoning has perverted tendencies."

"It wasn't intentional Kim. God, I'm sorry my zoning offended you, alright?"

She looked him up and down before deciding, "Fine, whatever. No big deal. Just can you not do that? It makes me uncomfortable Jack."

Jerry was fiddling with his watch before he looked up at the two to chime in, "Come on, Kim. Everything Jack does makes us uncomfortable. 'Thought you'd be used to that by now."

The black belt boy snarled at Jerry, which only made the entire gang laugh at the whole situation. After a few moments of laughing, Eddie finally brought everyone back to point, "So, Kim. You coming to the dojo after school or you auditioning for that play thing?"

"Wait, what play thing?" Jack asked.

Kim's face flushed a deep pink before replying, "Erm, the school drama club play. I know its girly and all, but I kind of wanted to try out." Jack nearly froze in his place. Kim wanted to try out for the school play? But the school play was for the weird theatre kids and the girls who thought they were the next Beyonce. Every year the drama club sponsored a play or musical to be put on by their members and peers at the school and every year the play stunk. It was beyond Jack why Kim would even want to try out for the stupid thing. She was a karate girl, not some actress up on the stage singing her heart out to pseudo intellects.

Kim was better than all of those people who back stabbed to get solos and pretended to be friends with their peers while talking about them behind their backs. But by the look on her face, Kim looked like she really wanted to be a part of the school drama production. She was looking at Jack as if she was pleading for his acceptance. If she wanted to do the show so terribly why did she care what Jack thought about her decisions? It was her choice. He was not her keeper.

"Really?" Milton squeaked, "You're trying out for Romeo and Juliet? Kim this is so excited! None of my friends ever do the shows with me!" Jack had known for ages that Milton was one of the theatre geeks, but he was so confident in himself Milton never cared what anyone thought of him. Kim, though, she was not the type of person that Jack would have pegged to do theatre.

Kim bit down on her lip, which almost made Jack pin her against the wall and kiss her, and uneasily replied, "Well I don't know… m-maybe. It's kind of stupid, isn't it? I just, I don't what I was thinking."

Without thinking about it, without planning it, Jack blurted out, "What do you mean, Kim? Eddie, Jerry and I are all auditioning for the show too. It isn't weird at all. You should come and audition with us!"

The two other boys who were behind Kim gawked at Jack. Even Jack's eyes widened a little as the reality of what he had just said sunk in a little to him. He could not audition for the show. He was a jock and was the junior martial arts master of the world. Martial arts masters did not do theatre, but when Kim looked up at him beaming he pushed those thoughts aside.

"Really?" She smiled, "You guys are auditioning too? Oh my god! This is going to be so much fun! We are going to have a great time working together!"

Eddie awkwardly laughed and went along with Jack's lie, "Yep Kim. It's going to be great!"

Jerry, who was still in a state of shock, tried to jump into the conversation, but all that happened was his voice jumped three octaves so he silenced himself. Kim was too happy to even notice his slight voice jump though, which Jack was silently thankful for. The last thing he needed was Kim to interrogate Jerry. He was a snitch, but a stupid one so Jack could never blame him.

Milton now donning a very dramatic demeanour said, "Well Kimberly. I am going to head down to the auditions now. They begin at three o'clock and I need time to warm up my speaking voice. Would you like to join me?"

"Yeah," Kim nodded excitedly, "I'll see you guys down there?"

All three boys awkwardly chorused a yes to Kim's question and watched her and Milton disappear from sight down the hallway. Once they were without a doubt gone from ear range, Eddie and Jerry spun on their heels and each smacked one of Jack's arms.

"Ow, really?" Jack yelped rubbing his arms, "I'm tender."

"That's not all you're going to be when I'm done with you!" Jerry fumed before he went off in a string of Spanish. Eddie restrained him and instructed his friend to take a few deep breaths.

With Jerry calm, Eddie snapped, "Why did you do that, Jack? I can't be a player in tights!"

"Yeah, man," Jerry agreed, "What ladies are gonna dig theatre geeks?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Jack reasoned, "I just panicked okay? Kim looked so upset that we would judge her for wanting to audition and I didn't want her to be upset and I panicked!"

Eddie rolled his eyes, "I get it. This is about impressing Kim and your crush on her. Dude, you can just ask a girl out! You don't need to audition for a play for her OR get us involved!"

"Tights are gonna give me wedgies, man. I don't do wedgies."

"Look," Jack raised his voice, "I'm sorry, okay? I was gonna ask her out today, Eddie, but obviously that didn't happen. And Jerry no one said you had to wear tights. You don't actually have to audition. I was just… panicked. I'll go talk to Kim and tell her that we aren't trying out. I don't want to put you guys in a weird spot." As Jack turned to walk away he added, "Thanks for covering for me, though, with her before. I appreciate it."

Both Eddie and Jerry's faces fell at that comment. Jack did not mean to make that comment to make them pity him, but Jack was their best friend. They both knew how much Kim mean to him and if this silly play would help their friend out they were in.

"Nah," Jerry said grabbing Jack's forearm to stop him, "Bro, we know how much you dig Kim. If this is gonna help you get there than I'm in."

"We both are," Eddie grinned.

Jack's face lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July when his friends said that they would help him with this audition predicament. Eddie and Jerry were the best friends that could ever have wished for. No one else would have agreed to audition for some stupid Shakespeare thing to help their friend with some girl, especially something so last minute. He never intended for this to happen, but he had been Kim'd, which as of late was becoming quite common. She just had this way about her that he could not put his finger on.

"Thanks guys," Jack said getting wrapped up in the moment. He threw his arms around his two friends to give them a hug when he realized what position they were in. As quickly as he could he pulled away from his friends and cleared his throat. The two other boys coughed and rubbed the back of their necks.

"Right, yeah," Jack said in a low timbre.

"No problem man," Jerry said.

"Yep," Eddie coughed.

"Cool."

"Uh huh."

As Jack, Eddie and Jerry walked down the theatre hallway, they heard such strange noises. People were wailing like sirens, making funny faces and throwing their arms around in a weird fashion.

The more the walked the louder and more absurdly obnoxious the sounds became. It was as if the theatre people were trying to put on some abstract play in the hallway with all of the flailing and noises they were making. Jack had no idea what he had gotten himself and his friends into, but the last thing he wanted was to have to explain to Kim that he had panicked and lied to her earlier. Not only did Jack not want to admit lying to the girl that he wanted to go out with, but Kim was a second degree black belt and with Jack's strict no hurting girl's policy she could really cause some damage to his face.

While they walked in step toward the audition sign ups, Jerry leaned over to Jack and whispered, "This is like some weird twilight zone shit, man. It's freaking me out."

Eddie quickly added in a harsh whisper. "Twilight zone? More like the haunting hour. Those girls are howling at each other over there." Those words snapped Jack's attention to where Eddie was gesturing and low and behold two girls were howling at one another and swinging their arms up and over their heads. He was not exactly sure what that type of exercise accomplished, but they were actors so he was just going to have to trust that they knew what they were doing. At least to a certain degree.

"Well," Jack fumbled trying to defend their actions, "they are just warming up… I think."

"Jack! Eddie! Jerry! You made it!" A bubbly voice sounded down the hallway. Kim ran up to the three of them and gave each of them a quick hug ending with Jack. However, she paused a minute holding onto Jack a little bit longer. He even took the time to wrap his left arm around her back and to hold her there. Any chance that he got to touch her and be close to her was something that he would take happily. It was not common that she was so outward with her emotions towards her karate friends.

"Yeah we did," Jerry grumbled.

"Sure did," Jack gritted his teeth and smiled as he released Kim. Without being too obvious he clapped Jerry strongly on his shoulder. He was giving his friend a message to cut the attitude and to smile through this for Jack's sake. Impressing Kim and keeping her happy with him was important to Jack. After all, he was fully prepared to ask her out that day, but this silly thing had to get in his way.

"So what exactly are we doing Kim?" Eddie piped up.

The blonde shot him a smile and clasped her hands together with excitement, "Okay, well there is a sign up sheet over there for the play. You are gonna write your name down, okay? And then Mr. Wdoviak is going to call us in one at a time to do a monologue. Once you finish that, he'll either give you a call back for later tonight or you can just head home. Tomorrow the cast list goes up and we start rehearsals."

Jerry, who looked sufficiently confused, rose his hand. Jack nearly strangled him right then and there and Kim looked at him curiously. Awkwardly she pointed to him, as if to call on him in a class, "Yes Jerry?"

"Cool," he said putting his hand down, "What is a monologue?"

A squeaky voice joined the group, "What is a monologue? Are you living under a rock?"

"No Milton," Eddie snapped, "but some of us playas don't do the play thing."

Milton tossled his ruffled shirt and scoffed, "A monologue is a piece of memorized dialogue from a play or movie that is to be acted by one person with no outside help from other actors."

"Translation?" Jack asked.

Kim smirked at her friends, which caused Jack to get a horrible pit in his stomach. Did she know that they were only doing this audition thing to save Jack's image with Kim? Did she know that he had lied to her when he said that they were already auditioning too? Or was she still painfully oblivious. He really hoped that she was just oblivious because he was auditioning for Shakespeare for her, which, honestly, was going to hurt his reputation a little bit.

"It's a solo acting scene," Kim simplified.

"So like a rap?" Jerry offered up.

Milton let out an impatient sigh, "No you simpletons, like a scene. You know, from a play or a movie."

"Oh cool, cool. I got it now," Jerry reassured them both.

After explaining what a monologue was to Jerry several more times, the boys finally got their names up on the try out list. Unlike sports, this audition sign up did not ask about height, weight or skills and tricks. Instead it asked about previous roles, acting coaches and accents. Honestly, Jack felt a little bare compared to the rest of the list. All he could really write down was his name, although, he did have one pretty solid British accent. Years of watching every Harry Potter movie had perfected this accent and he was rather proud of his ability to perform it. Except, he had never had someone who cared about this accent before.

Being that Jack, Eddie and Jerry arrived late to the audition sign ups they were the last three boys to audition for the day. As they all waited for their turn to audition they discussed what exactly they were going to perform in the audition room. And the more they talked the quicker time seemed to pass. Every audition came and went as the boys sat in that hallway. Some people came out of that room sporting a post-it with the parts they had callbacks for, while others left the room empty handed. However, the three boys were not paying attention to the other crowd of teenagers with callbacks who were waiting around for the final last try outs so that they could start the callbacks. Wdoviak had stated before he began the auditions that the callbacks would begin as soon as the last audition was over, so there was no sense in heading home.

Yet, the three karate chopping friends did not even care about callbacks. They just did not want to make a fool out of themselves doing this audition nonsense. Especially because none of them had anything prepared that could work for this audition. Until finally, Eddie happened on genius.

"Guys," the rather robust boy of the group said happily, "what if we just quoted our favorite serious movie. Check it, we don't have a monologue thing, but Milton said that it could be a scene from a movie. Maybe if we stopped worrying about it as a monologue and just looked at it as quoting a movie like we do all the time we could do this!"

"Eddie… you're a genius!" Jack grinned.

"Yeah, bro," Jerry nodded, "I'll just quote that speech from Gladiator, man. Russell Brand is so badass in that movie."

"Russell Crowe," Eddie corrected.

"Same difference, Eddie."

Before Eddie could even retort, the audition room door swung open and Jerry was called in. The latino boy stood up and brushed himself off. Taking a deep breath he saluted his friends, "See you boys on the other side."

"Good luck man," Jack said, which warranted huge gasps from all of the teenagers in the hallway. The brunette had no idea what that was about, but apparently wishing a friend good luck was mean spirited here. What a tough crowd.

Ignoring the thespians, Jack turned back to Eddie now that Jack was gone and asked, "So how about you? What are you thinking about doing?"

Eddie chewed on his bottom lip as he thought. Jack could see on his friend's face that Eddie had no clue as to what he was going to do in that room, which was a shame since Eddie had been the one to help Jerry figure out how to approach his audition. However, Eddie was prone to over thinking things and being the one in the group who usually liked to sit the really intense work out. It was not a slight against him it was just in his nature. He would rather be trying to pick up girls all day then do any type of work.

Trying to help him, Jack offered, "How about you quote Dark Knight, dude. You know, the thing Gordon says at the end about Batman. You know that entire movie by heart."

Eddie rolled his eyes before quipping, "Is that really Shakespearee appropriate?"

"You have any other ideas?"

The door swung open to reveal a Jerry with a post-it note in his hand. Jack's eyes widened at his best friend, "Dude… you got a callback?"

"Yep," Jerry smirked, "for some bro named Tybalt. Apparently, check this, he croaks in this show. How sweet is that?"

While Jerry and Jack were talking, Eddie's name was called into the audition room. He looked like he was about to throw up and Jack was filled with guilt. The loud mouthed brunette had gotten his friends into this mess and now Eddie was about to revisit his lunch. Before Eddie walked into the room, Jack ran over to his friend and pat him on the back, "You got this Eddie. Just do what you know."

With a new found smile, Eddie marched into the room with broad shoulders. Things would probably crash and burn in that audition room, but at least Jack had sent Eddie in there standing a little taller. That was all he could really do for his friend in this instance.

Once Eddie was safely tucked inside the audition room, Jerry asked, " So what are you doing, Jack?"

"I," Jack paused, "have no idea." In the midst of talking to his friends, helping Eddie and goofing off with Eddie, Jack had forgotten to sort out what he was going to audition with in that room. He suddenly felt sick himself. Mr. Wdoviak scared the crap out of Jack. He had him for homeroom the year before and the man always had a hard expression on his face. The rumors that always circulated about him were that he was impossible to please. Hell, he did not want to let him down or get him angry. Wdoviak was at least three to four inches taller than Jack and Jack was tall.

Wrapped up in his own thoughts, Jack lost track of time. By the time he tuned back into reality, Eddie was already out of his audition with a small post-it callback for the Friar. Jerry was teasing Eddie that if he got the part he would have to shave his head, which was what brought Jack back to reality.

And then the final person's name was called, his own.

Jack was as white as a sheet walking into that audition room. Jerry and Eddie wished him luck as he walked in, which gained more sneers from the drama club kids, but he could not hear them. All he could do was try and figure out something to say to Wdoviak that sounded even remotely like a monologue. At that moment, though, he was not coming up with any solid ideas.

Upon entering the room, he traversed his way through the desks of the classroom, until he was finally at the front of the room. Sitting right in the front row with a clipboard in hand was Mr. Wdoviak. His bushy eyebrows seemed to size Jack up before he instructed Jack to stand on the taped x on the ground. Jack quickly did as he was told.

"So Mr. Anderson," Wdoviak said in a monotone voice, "What will you be doing for me today?"

Then it hit him like a bolt of lightening. There were two things that Jack knew better than anything else in the world- karate and karate movies. His admiration of karate movies was part of the reason that he choice the Wasabi dojo to begin with. Bobby Wasabi was his icon during his childhood. There was no disputing his knowledge in these two subjects.

With some confidence, Jack spoke, "I'm going to be doing a monologue from The Karate Kid."

Wdoviak rose his eyebrow and waved his arm, "Whenever you are ready you may begin."

Jack took in a deep breath and said in a choppy and calculated manner, "Every time I see-"

"No, no, no!" Wdoviak yelled slamming down on his desk, "You're just saying words, Jack. You aren't meaning anything you say. What kind of acting is that? Try again!"

With a small shake to his voice, Jack jumped back in, "Every time I see those guys-"

Once more Wdoviak interrupted him, "No Jack. You are smarter than that. Try again. But don't jump in to it. Think about what you are saying. Imagine you are talking to someone and telling them how you feel. You NEED to make them understand. Now talk to them."

Nodding furiously, Jack took a small breath in and closed his eyes. After a few moments of calming his chi, Jack opened his brown eyes and looked out at a spot in front of him. Suddenly, he imagined Kim was standing right there in the middle of the room. A small smile graced his lips, but it was a hidden smile, one reserved only for lovers, but this what not a monologue for such things. He had to make her understand that he was not a quitter and he had to fight for himself and for her. He could not break down like a puppy dog and get kicked in the dirt. Brushing hair out of his face he said slowly and pointedly, "Every time I see those guys," Jack paused and closed his eyes clenching his teeth, "they'll know they got the best of me." His eyes flickered open and he pleaded with Kim, "I'll _never _have balance that way," With a little bit of conviction to his voice he continued, "not with them, not with Ali… not with me. I have to do this, Miyagi."

Jack continued to look at his imaginary Kim until he realized that he had finished his monologue. Clearing his throat, he snapped out of his little world and looked straight at Wdoviak, "Sorry sir."

With a smirk, Wdoviak shook his head, "Don't apologize. That was better, Anderson. I may just make an actor out of you yet. Here," he held out a piece of paper with a character name written on it, "Callbacks are starting right now and I'd like to see you there. I want to have you try out for this part."

Jack looked down at the slip and saw one name- Romeo.

It had been an hour and a half and the callbacks were in full swing at this point. The auditorium was filled with drama club members left and right, each one vying for a position to try and get the part they wanted. After each round of try outs for a specific part, the mass of people in the room got smaller and smaller. Wdoviak was letting people go home as soon as they had read a callback for the part that he had written on their post-it. But now the callbacks were winding down. Milton, who had a callback for Mercutio, Jerry and Eddie had all left twenty minutes ago after they had read for their characters. Now the room was left with only six individuals and Jack was getting very, very ansy.

Wdoviak let everyone else in the room leave except the last six teenagers. Sitting alongside of Jack was Sarah Brooks, who had notoriously gotten the lead in each school play since she was in elementary school, Louis Novak, who had likewise been cast as the leading man all throughout his schooling years, Megan Carter, a mousy redheaded drama queen, Matthew Jonson and Kim Crawford. Jack was confused to say the least as to why these six individuals were asked to say the latest. He had not even gotten the chance to audition for the part that was written on his slip and it was already past four o'clock. Rudy was going to be furious that he was so late for practice, especially that Milton, Eddie and Jerry were no doubt already there.

Then Wdoviak walked over to the small group of teenagers and leaned against one of the chairs in the classroom, "You six all got callbacks for the lead roles of Romeo and Juliet, the namesakes of the show. Now I asked you all to stay last because the scenes between these two characters are very tender and the last thing I need idiot teenagers doing is goofing off trying to impress their friends," Jack felt as if that comment was intended for him specifically, "Now… I'm going to call you all up in pairs and we are going to switch some things around. I may ask a pair of you to stay behind after everyone else, but it does not mean that those two are guaranteed the parts; I may just want to work on something with them to see if they fit the roles. Okay, so Jack and Sarah- I'd like to start off with you two."

Flashing Sarah a smile, the brown haired diva rolled her eyes at Jack. He was a little offended by her actions and without another word, walked over to Wdoviak to grab a script to read from so they could try out the scene.

Sarah prepared herself to start her line, when Jack rose his hand, "Um sir? I have a question."

The older man sighed and waved his hand, "Yes Jack?"

"Do we just say the lines or do we do stuff too?"

Sarah snorted at his question and snarkily replied, "You act, idiot. Do whatever you think that he would do, okay?"

And as annoyed as Jack was with the manner in which Sarah spoke to him, he was rather pleased with her advice. It finally made sense to him. Acting was just being normal. It was not being anything other than just showing real people and real life. He lived everyday! He could do this!

Once more, Sarah took a breath and said dramatically and clutching onto Jack, "What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night So stumblest on my counsel?"

Jack squirmed a little in her grasp before stumbling through his next line, "By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am: My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee; Had I it written, I would tear the word." He was not sure if he sounded at all convincing, but by the disgust in Sarah's eyes he could tell that he was not exactly executing these lines correctly. However, in his own defense Jack had only ever read Romeo and Juliet once and it was in ninth grade English. Also, it was rather hard to act naturally when Sarah was making such a fool of herself.

With an edge to her voice, she tried to maintain her composure, "My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound: Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"

Jack found this all so ridiculous. Romeo was supposed to be in love with Juliet, but how could anyone act like they loved someone as hateful as Sarah? This entire scene was agony for him, which caused him to pull away from her with his next line, "Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."

The nasty brown haired beauty was about to retort in her exhausted acting tone when Wdoviak stopped them, "Stop, enough! That was just awful. I didn't feel anything besides the urge to throw up."

Sarah tossed her hair and pointed to Jack, "He is an amateur and I can't work well with someone of his status."

Shrugging his shoulders, Jack apologized, "I'm sorry, sir. I tried, it just wasn't right with Sarah. We didn't work well together. I felt like she didn't want to be with me, you know?"

Wdoviak agreed and sat Jack down. He continued on with pairing up numerous combinations. Every time Sarah read the scene she was far too teary and dramatic for Jack's liking, Louis performed it like he was some prince in a stupid Disney movie, Megan was so mousy and soft spoken Jack could not see her as Juliet, Matthew was so conceited that he was unwatchable and Kim, which was probably Jack's own personal bias, was perfect. The blonde gave life to Juliet that the other girls did not. She was smart and witty, but still in love with her Romeo. If Romeo was a hard punch, Kim's Juliet was the soft block of the opponent. There was something about her Juliet that seemed to complete the impulsive Romeo.

However, Jack did not get up to read again. Wdoviak basically ignored him for almost the entirety of the callback, until the very end. He looked like he was about to dismiss the last six students when he saw Jack sitting at one of the desks. His eyes flashed with thought for a moment as if he was trying to decide if it would be mean to let Jack go home with only reading once, but he finally relented. Jack assumed that Wdoviak felt bad that he had ignored Jack and was trying to be nice to him in a small way.

"Right Jack," Wdoviak said as he started to pack away his things to leave the school, "Can you read this scene with Kim please."

Shaking out his hair, Jack grabbed a script, "Sure thing."

With Kim in front of him, Jack suddenly felt like he could do this scene without any foul screw ups. Like Juliet did for Romeo, Kim centered Jack. She flashed him a warm smile to try and calm his nerves before she nodded at him to signal she was going to start the scene.

Turning to Jack, Kim said genuinely surprised, "What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night so stumblest on my counsel?"

Jack smirked at Kim and walked over to her with his usual cocky walk. Gingerly reaching out for her hand he said, "By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am:" But Kim's Juliet pulled her hand from Jack's Romeo. Romeo's face flashed with upset at her gesture. He tried to reason with her, "My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee; Had I it written, I would tear the word."

Juliet eyed Romeo in a suspicious fashion, but underneath the suspicion bubbled undeniable passion. Her face did not trust him, but her eyes drank him in like the red sea, "My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound: Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"

Her question made Romeo smile slightly at the thought that she indeed knew his name, "Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."

Pushing aside his moment of pride, Juliet approached him and rested her hand on his chest. Her eyes rested on his and for a moment there was silence. All that was left in the room was the space between their faces. For a moment it looked as if they were going to lean into one another, but Juliet looked away and questioned, "How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? The orchard walls are high and hard to climb," she paused and realized, "And the place death, considering who thou art, If any of my kinsmen find thee here."

Romeo rested his hand over the hand that rested on his chest. He laced his index finger with one of her fingers and he gently stroked her hand with his thumb, "With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt; Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me."

She leaned her face closer to his own to try and plead with him to understand the severity of his visit, "If they do see thee, they will murder thee"

He smiled at her a secret smile and for a moment Romeo and Juliet were gone and Jack and Kim had taken their places, but Jack suspected all along he was not being Romeo- he was just being himself with Kim. "Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye  
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity."

Kim smiled back at Jack, "I would not for the world they saw thee here."

Jack's heart started to race a hundred miles an hour at the sheer look that Kim was giving him. He wanted more than anything in the world to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her, but that would be the wrong time and place, especially because she did not yet know of his affections. But he could not control himself as well as he had hoped. Regardless of what his head was telling him, he leaned into Kim and hovered right above her lips with his eyes almost closed, "I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;  
And but thou love me, let them find me here: My life were better ended by their hate, Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love." His eyes, which were just barely open, flickered down to her lips and since his one hand was still rested on top of her hand on his chest, he moved his other hand to brush her hair out of her face. It all seemed to be working in Jack's favor, except the hand that he moved to brush the hair out of her face still had a script in it. Moving his hand he dropped his script, which made him and Kim alike jump away from each other and tune back into the classroom that they were in.

With a blood red face, Jack looked at Wdoviak who was suddenly watching Jack and Kim with a very acute stare. Jack did not even dare look at the other teenagers; he was far too embarrassed to look their way.

After a few moments of silence, Jack looked at Kim who looked equally as flustered. He was about to apologize for his actions when Wdoviak spoke up, "All of you are dismissed… except Jack and Kim. I want to try something."

A few moments of huffing and puffing arose as the other teens, mostly Sarah, exited the room, but once the room was clear, Jack spoke, "Sir, what exactly do you want-?"

"Shut up Jack," Wdoviak said flipping anxiously through his script. When he came upon the page he was looking for, he instructed Kim and Jack, "Turn your scripts to Act III, Scene V. Don't ask questions, just read."

The two teenagers just looked frazzled at Wdoviak as they tried to process his request, "Did I speak a different language? Act III, Scene five! Just act the way you were before… I need to see something."

Clearing her throat, Kim looked down at the book and then back at Jack. Inside Jack was ready to burst. This was too much pressure and he was not sure that he could just call on whatever had just happened in that last scene to happen again. He had just been so natural with Kim and everything had came out the way that he wanted it to sound and look. Hell, he was not even trying to make it sound or look a certain way- he was just talking to Kim. Or Juliet. Whoever it was that he was just talking to in that last scene.

All of those thoughts stopped dead in their tracks when Kim looked at him. He simply looked at her for what seemed like an eternity before she ran to him and grabbed both sides of his face as if she was desperately trying to hold onto him. The look on her face was as if he was slipping through her fingers and there was nothing she could do to stop him leaving. Jack's heart sank at the look and his hands reached up to his face to grasp her hands. He pulled them away from his face and swiftly pulled her into his body in a hug. His lips kissed the top of her head as he held onto her for dear life.

She looked up into his eyes, still holding onto him from their hug, and said, "Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:" Her eyes pleaded with him to stay before he shook his head no. Her eyes teared up as she attempted to convince him that the morning had not come to steal him away from her, "It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: Believe me, love, it was the nightingale."

With a soft, sad laugh, Jack shook his head and kissed her forehead, "It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops."

When he looked back down into her eyes, it was no longer with a small glimmer of hope. The reality of Romeo's situation sunk into Jack before he continued, "I must be gone and live, or stay and die."

Kim's eyes brimmed with tears as she shook her head still holding onto the delusion that the morning had not come to steal Jack or Romeo away from her. Jack's Romeo's eyes also started to tear as she pulled on his shirt near his chest to make him stay, "Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I: It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua: Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone."

Then Kim, or Juliet which was starting to confuse Jack's brain, did something unexpected- she kissed him. Her one hand laced up around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss that was so fierce and desperate Jack had to try and remain in the moment and not shoot his eyes open in surprise. After a few seconds of adjusting to the idea of Kim kissing him, Jack responded by pulling her by her waist closer to his body and returning her kiss with just as much fervor. Kim leaned up on her toes to reach his mouth easier and Jack continued to try and pull her closer to his body. She was crushed up against him, but he needed more of her, he hungered for her.

However, as he kissed her fiercely he felt the brush of his script in his hand up against his other knuckle. The reality that they were doing a scene snapped Jack back to his senses. He pulled his head away from Kim and kissed all over her face inbetween each of his lines, "Let me be ta'en," kiss, "let me be put to death;" kiss, "I am content, so thou wilt have it so." Kiss, "I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye," kiss, "'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;" kiss, "Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat  
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:" kiss, "I have more care to stay than will to go:" He kissed her square on the lips this last time before he shouted out loud, "Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. How is't, my soul? let's talk; it is not day."

Kim's eyes widened and hastily pushed him away, "It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Some say the lark makes sweet division; This doth not so, for she divideth us: Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes, O, now I would they had changed voices too! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day, O, now be gone; more light and light it grows."

All of her small speech was said quickly and worriedly. He was not sure if she was being Juliet worried for her Romeo, or Kim worried about what had just occurred between her and Jack. That kiss was… intense to say the least and Jack could still feel it on his lips.

But if this was going to be the last time that he was ever going to get to kiss Kim, he was going to take advantage of the situation. He leaned in one more time and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered shut and as he pulled away from the kiss she leaned forward as if trying to capture the moment once more. Jack whispered against her lips, "More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!"

Another voice broke up the heated conversation between Kim and Jack, or Romeo and Juliet- it was Wdoviak. He clapped his hands and said, "Alright, I've seen enough. That's all I wanted to see."

Jack, noticing the tight hold that the two of them were wrapped in, let Kim go and took a few steps away. His face radiated red, while Kim's face was now the color of her Megan's hair. The three people in the room were all silent for quite some time before Wdoviak said, "You two are perfect. Kim, Jack? You two are my Romeo and Juliet."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! My name is Taylor and I am so glad that you all really liked Shakespeare in Love. It's been an idea that's bounced around in my head for quite some time and I thought that'd I get it out and let you all read it. **

**Just so you know, all of your really positive reviews made my day. I really loved everyone's comments and I am even a fan of constructive criticism, so don't be afraid to hit that review button! Seriously though, I was not going to update for a few more days, but your reviews inspired me to get my bum in gear. The more you review the quicker I update!**

**I'm not very chatty so I'm going to stop talking and let you all just read my story.**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' It or Romeo and Juliet. _

The dummy slammed into the ground with a loud, final thud. Jack rushed to the dojo after his very confusing and heated callback with Kim to blow off some steam. He could not really talk to anyone at that moment; he was too busy wrapped up in his own thoughts, which made him kick the dummy more fiercely until it finally fell. But when the dummy smacked the ground everyone in the dojo turned around to face Jack with wide eyes.

The sixteen year old tossed some of his loose brown hair out of his face before he regained a normal stance. Turning around to face his friends and Rudy, Jack did not even know what to say to them all. They obviously looked worried about him. How could they not? After his callback had ended an hour earlier he had grabbed his backpack and ran out of the classroom as quickly as he could. He just did not want to stay behind and face the reality of what his day had brought upon him.

That morning he had planned to ask Kim out. Jack had been working up the nerves for weeks to breach the topic with her, but now everything had changed. Wdoviak had turned his world upside down when he gave Jack that part on the spot with Kim. Now Jack couldn't ask her out. She would think that he was just trying to go along with the play or that his feelings were disengenuine because he had feigned them during their try out. However, that was not the case. Every look and every touch that had transpired between himself and Kim was one hundred percent genuine. He was not sure if that was the Romeo in him acting in that fashion or if that was the Jack in him working up the nerve to kiss her like that, but whichever part of Jack acted like that- he had screwed over the Jack in that dojo.

All that Jack wanted to do now was punch out his frustrations at the predicament that he had allowed himself to get wrapped up in. This was all his fault and now he was going to have to lie in his bed.

Looking at his friends now, though, he could see that they were worried for him. They had been worried since he had arrived at the mall. Jack had stormed into the dojo after his audition and marched straight into the locker room without saying so much as a word to Jerry, Eddie, Milton or Rudy. When he finally resurfaced from changing a few minutes later, he did not address anyone and had walked straight over to the dummy in the corner of the room. As soon as he was centered he spent a half an hour wailing on the dummy in an attempt to get all of his anger and frustration out of his system. Luckily for Jack the only people who had watched him beat the crap out of the dummy were Eddie, Milton, Jerry and Rudy. Kim had decided to opt out of coming to practice that day in light of everything that had happened at her audition.

As soon as the callback was over, she only spoke to Jack for a few minutes to tell him that she was not going to be at the dojo. Her mother, who had once been an actress herself, had wanted to take Kim out to a celebratory dinner to honor Kim's casting. The look on her face at the time was very tentative, as if she was not sure how to really act around Jack anymore or he could not hold those thoughts against her. He himself was not exactly certain of how he should approach and interact with Kim. They had been so open and personal with one another in that audition room that everything else outside of their kiss was awkward. The thought even occurred to him that maybe he should have kissed her again because that was something they were both very comfortable doing with one another. Alas, that thought was stomped out as soon as it appeared in his head.

Before he had left for the dojo, he just nodded at Kim and hopped on his skateboard to head over to the dojo. No words escaped his lips as Kim spoke to him. He had no idea what to even say. A script in that moment would have been ideal, but life was not romanticized like the world of Romeo and Juliet. So he had just skated away from Kim without as much as a goodbye.

Yet, now that he was face to face with his friends in the dojo he had a horrible feeling that they were not going to let him remain silent as he had done with Kim. The look on Jerry's face alone, which was a mixture of concern and anger, clued him into a confession that was bound to unravel.

Rudy, after the deafening silence that had enveloped his dojo ceased, spoke up, "Jack- what's going on? Are you okay, kiddo?"

For a moment, silence dominated the dojo again until Eddie decided to assist Rudy's attempt to make Jack speak, "Seriously man, you're acting stranger than usual."

As much as Jack appreciated their concern for him, the black belt teenager was not certain that he was going to tell them all just yet what had transpired for fear of them changing their manners around Kim. Jack just wanted to take everything back, including his crush; he was single-handedly going to disrupt the balance of his gang and his dojo because he could not restrain himself from feeling something toward Kim. He should have known to keep romance out of the dojo, but that was one of his many mistakes.

If his silence was not enough of an answer, Jack was not willingly going to tell them what plagued his thoughts. They all knew to a certain degree that Jack had feelings for Kim, but if they knew what he had done today he was afraid they would react poorly. Jack had crossed a line at those callbacks with Kim. Even though she had technically kissed him first he had been the one to continue on with the charade above and beyond what could be deemed appropriate. He had exploited his character to take advantage of the chance to kiss Kim. He felt sick to his stomach.

The four men in the dojo minus Jack all exchanged looks as they tried to figure out their next plan of action to get Jack to at least speak. His silence was not something they were accustomed to ever. He was the loud and cocky type of student and friend. This angry and silent person who had taken Jack's place in the course of the past thirty minutes was not someone they recognized.

Jerry, taking the lead on getting Jack to talk, approached his friend, "Look man, whatever happened we can help you, okay? If you keep it to yourself, bro, it's just gonna eat you up and then we're gonna have to deal with that. Let us help you so we don't have to help you later when things are worse." The other three men all shook their heads at Jerry rationale. As much as Jerry's heart was in the correct place, his wording was never the most eloquent or subtle. But he had accomplished something that none of the group thought they would get from Jack- he laughed.

His laugh was not strong or loud, but it was prevalent enough that everyone in the dojo heard it. Its sound lifted the spirits in the dojo so much that everyone was now sporting obnoxious, toothy grins. Even Milton seemed happy that Jack was acting somewhat normal again. "See, Jack?" Milton reasoned, "We can help you. You just have to be willing to let us."

Milton was right, of course. Jack did not want to keep his friends out of the loop as to what had transpired between himself and Kim, but he did not want them to be upset with him either. That callback had changed the entire backbone of their friendship and in turn Jack might have seriously damaged everyone else's relationships with Kim. Jack, due to his silly noble attitude, felt horrible that he had put them all indirectly in this situation.

Leaning down to pick up the fallen dummy, Jack sighed, "Look I appreciate it guys, I really do… I just… today was kind of a weird day for me, alright?"

Eddie laughed, "Dude it was a weird day for all of us. You roped me and Jerry into auditioning for some Shakespeare crap."

"Yeah," Jerry replied seriously, "I am not a play person, yo."

A very audible gasp surfaced between all of the teens. Milton, who now looked like he had been shot in the heart by a crossbow, said, "You guys didn't want to audition. But you told me and Kim you did! How could you lie to me and my craft?"

Rudy- after standing watch for the past few minutes- finally decided to rejoin the conversation so Milton did not sidetrack the conversation. The sensei cared about Jack like a younger brother and he did not want to see him upset over anything. He felt responsible for the boy's well being and if Jack was upset Rudy was going to fix it to the best of his ability. No one in his dojo was ever left behind to drown in the crap that life offered, "Milton, this isn't about your craft, this is about Jack. And Jack, whatever has your knickers in a twist, we can help you. You just need to trust us."

"It isn't a matter of trust," Jack said returning his attention to punching the dummy he had just reset, "It's more that I don't want you guys to be upset with me."

"I'm already upset with you, dude," Jerry chuckled, "You're self righteous vagueness is getting on my nerves." That comment merited a smile from Jack and even a small laugh. If anyone had the capability to get Jack to talk about what was on his mind it would be Jerry. Jack was close with all of his friends, but no one could rival he and Jerry's relationship. Milton was the type of person who was always there for Jack when he needed to get out of a sticky situation and he was also the perfect friend to call for educational endeavors. As for Eddie, he was the type of friend where if Jack was looking to have pure, mindless fun Eddie was the person to hang out with. The robust, black teenager knew how to make any night entertaining. However, Jerry was Jack's best friend. Excluding his occasional confused and vague tendencies, Jerry was the most loyal friend Jack had ever had. Whenever Jack needed someone to talk to Jerry was there; whenever Jack needed to just hang out and talk about nonsense Jerry was there; whenever Jack needed someone to goof off with and wreck havoc Jerry was there. Jerry was always there for Jack. In fact, Jerry was there for Jack more on his worst days then on his best, which was the testament to a true friend.

With Jerry's support and reality check, Jack finally stopped punching the dummy and turned to his friends, "Fair enough, but you guys are gonna be pissed if I tell you."

Those words caused Jerry to pull Jack to the center of the sparing mat, "We're already pissed at you because you won't tell us. So just shut up and let it out, will ya?"

He took his friend's lead and sat down on the mat where Rudy, Milton, Eddie and finally Jerry had settled. It seemed that his friends and sensei had given him no other option but to relay what was on his mind. Upset flashed in his mind for a moment before he realized that his friends were concerned for him. Jack owed them an explanation, especially after everything all of them had ever done for him. They were good friends.

Settling down Indian style, Jack ran his hands through his messy hair. So many thoughts ran through his head as he tried to process and sort out the events that had transpired over the past few hours. It was apparent now that he was telling them what had occurred, but he first needed to understand it himself. And there were many things that he still could not believe had even happened. He and Kim kissing was at the top of that list, but that was only because it was the single most perfect moment of his life. If he thought very hardly about the kiss he could still feel the pressure of her lips against his own.

Rudy snapped him from his thoughts with a loud cough, "The mat is yours, Jack."

"Okay," Jack began, "But I warned you." He took one deep breath in before plunging into his story, "I was gonna ask Kim out today, which was stupid in itself, but that was the plan. Then she came up to us after school and somehow we all got roped into auditioning for the show. I attest that to my stupidity. Sorry again Eddie, Jerry."

"No problem, dude," Jerry nodded.

"It's cool," Eddie smiled.

"Anyway," Jack continued, "Then I went in and auditioned and got a callback for Romeo, right? At the callbacks I was literally awful. I had to do this romantic scene and I just couldn't get into it. Sarah Brooks is just repulsive. And right before we were dismissed I did the scene with Kim and all I can say is… it was wow. I almost kissed her."

That got everyone's attention. A chorus of disbelieve rung throughout the choir. Jerry had somehow started ranting in Spanish about something that Jack could not understand, while Milton was trying to work out in his head how that had even happened. The sensei was scolding Jack for taking advantage of a situation like he had and Eddie was speechless. Jack lowered his eyes to the mat as everyone spoke over one another. He would simply wait until they had all talked themselves to death and he could finish his story.

Finally, after several minutes, the noise died down. This gave Jack the incentive to move on, "I warned you all you'd be mad. But that's kind of not all," he rubbed the back of his head, "Wdoviak dismissed the other kids and had me and Kim read this one scene together. And this is the kicker, she kissed me. In the middle of the scene she kissed me and I kissed her back and I kept kissing her throughout the entire scene. I don't know why I did it. I just couldn't help myself! And then he gave us the leads and I don't know if I can do this guys. It's all too much!"

Silence, the recent frequent visitor to the dojo, once more overtook the room as the rest of the group tried to process Jack's tale. He did not lift his chocolate brown eyes up to the rest of the group as they mulled over the shock and the story. His eyes were glued to the mat, but all he wanted to do was run out of the dojo and away from the judging eyes that were no doubt about to come his way. How could his friends forgive him for his actions toward Kim?

After minutes of silence and processing the information, Jerry spoke, "Jack, man, I get that this must be hard for you, but what's done is done, bro. Now we just have to figure out a plan of attack from here on out. But you won't be alone—we'll help you."

That made Jack looked up with disbelief, "You'll help me?"

Rudy laughed a deep, hearty laugh that brought a tentative smile to Jack's face, "Of course, we'll help you, dummy. This isn't the end of the world, okay? It was all just a little shocking to process, but we are gonna help you with this. Kissing Kim is not going to break up this dojo, but if you push us away from you it might."

"Yeah," Milton nodded, "Besides, if you are going to be Romeo… we have a lot of work to do."

Eddie rolled his eyes at Milton, "More importantly, we had your back today and we will have your back through all of this. The Wasabi Code, man."

"Just promise us one thing, Jack," Rudy asked, "Don't let this get to you. You can't spend your whole life stressing the things that are out of your control. So tomorrow just roll with the punches."

Jack nodded in agreement to Rudy's terms. The following day was going to be extremely difficult as he waited for the cast list to become public, but more importantly he would have to face Kim. In that moment, Jack decided that he was not going to communicate with Kim at school. He needed a Kim free day to let this all settle in and dodge the questions that were sure to come his way from his classmates about his audition.

The next day at school had been unbearable. Everyone in school had been suddenly talking about the cast list that was going up after school. Jack was not sure when the drama club had suddenly become such an interesting topic throughout the school. Yesterday the people who associated themselves with theatre were victims of ridicule and slander. Now they were seemingly popular. It was something that Jack could not understand- he had been one of the people who used to admittedly judged the theatre kids. However, now he supposed he was one of them and that meant that he should have been happy with the overnight success of the theatre club.

As the day continued on, Jack grew increasingly more agitated at the newfound interest in the drama club. But at lunchtime, Jack finally figured out why everyone was so interested in the play and the list that was being unveiled after school. Eddie had found Jack in the hallway eating his sandwich because Jack had been avoiding Kim all day long and told him what he knew about the peak in interest for the drama club.

According to Eddie, the entire school had head that Jack, Jerry and Kim had auditioned for the school play. Apparently with three people of consequence and status auditioning for the school play it was suddenly interesting. People were also gossiping about what had moved the group of karate obsessed teenagers to switch gears to Shakespeare all of the sudden. If only the entire student body knew that it was because of Kim Crawford. Her hair, her eyes, her personality, her everything had driven Jack up the wall and he had sucked his friends into the world of theatre without so much as batting an eyelash.

However, the entire school was not cognizant of the reasoning behind their auditions, so Jack felt that he was safe in that department. Many people had joked for years that he and Kim would eventually end up together, but Kim had always brushed it off as merely a joke. So if the school found out that he had buckled and signed up to put on tights for Kim only the teasing would be merciless. Even though Jack had some popularity that the school for all of his athletic endeavourers he was not deluded enough to think that high school was by any stretch of the means a warm and supportive environment. The only thing that teenagers loved more than a hero was tearing them down. That meant that Jack was going to have to make it look like he auditioned for the show of his own accord.

Once lunch concluded, Jack head off to the second half of his day and the minutes only seemed to get longer with each passing second. He wanted to hide in his shell as everyone asked him about the play and everything surrounding his audition, but that was not that Jack that he showed the world. Therefore, he put on a wide, cocky grin and told everyone with a wink that he felt that every part of the school deserved an equal serving of his talents. All of his friends rolled their eyes at his jests, but at underneath his smile Jack was glad that he had fooled them because he had not fooled himself.

By the time Jack had gotten to eighth period he had perfected his story as to why he had auditioned for the school drama club production. In short, Jack had told everyone that he had read Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade and that he wanted to use a sword on stage. He felt like his entire story had inconsistencies, but with the way the school was acting today it seemed like no one had noticed. For that he was grateful.

The knots in his stomach had worked themselves out and his day was looking up. As long as he ignored the impending broadcast of the cast list, Jack could get through the last period of the day without a hitch.

The shaggy haired brunette plopped down in his seat just before the bell rang. Sarah Brooks, who happened to sit beside him this period, arrived just in time to notice Jack taking out his notebook. Tossing her hair out of her piercing blue eyes, the self-acclaimed actress snipped, "Afternoon Jack. You ready for the cast list after school?"

Jack had hoped that Sarah would have ignored him this period. After the disaster that had been their callback yesterday and her reputation as a bitch, he was not in the mood to carry out a conversation with her. However, as much as Jack could be cocky and a prankster, he was a nice person and he could not, in good conscience, blatantly ignore someone. Of all of the things that people said about Jack, his good and kind nature was the one thing that he was truly proud and honored to hear about himself.

Letting his honorable side win out, Jack sat up in his seat and smiled at Sarah, "Yeah. Hopefully everything goes well."

"Well," she said throwing him a flirty smile, which confused him, "I'm really nervous about the list. I know by merit I should get the part, but you can never be sure, you know?"

That comment virtually made Jack's skin crawl. People like Sarah Brooks always set Jack's teeth on edge. All of his life he had worked hard and tirelessly to achieve everything that he had ever gotten. He was not delusional in thinking that his accomplishments came to him because he deserved him. Nothing in life was owed to him, so he had to prove each and every time he accomplished something that he deserved it.

Yet, Sarah seemed to just believe that the part she had auditioned for was guaranteed to her. He did find silent satisfaction in his knowledge that Kim was indeed Juliet. Part of him wanted to put Sarah in her place for believing that she was Juliet, but once again his nobility shone through and he kept his mouth shut. There was no honor in being ruthlessly mean. In jest, witty comments were fine, but when they were said to purposefully hurt someone's feelings it was no longer funny. Rudy had instilled those morals into Jack.

Instead of being honest, Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know Sarah. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

When Jack said that he turned away from Sarah to pull out a pencil and calculator to prepare for class. But as soon as he reached out for the pencil he felt a soft, smooth hand grab his own. His eyes shot up at the culprit to see Sarah sitting there with a soft smile. She chewed on her bottom lip in an attempt to be sincere, which only made Jack more upset with her actions, before saying, "By the way, I didn't get to tell you yesterday, when you did that scene with Kim you really impressed me. I'm sorry for being so hasty with you yesterday. I was just nervous, but you really proved that once you got over your stage fright you were a brilliant actor."

A chuckle threatened to escape Jack at Sarah's overly dramatic words. He had heard rumors that Sarah was always enamored with the leading man in all of the shows. Apparently she was convinced that Jack was going to play Romeo, which was ironically true, and now she had set her eyes on the black belt. But there was no way that he would ever return her false feelings. Not only did he have feelings for Kim, which were so strong that it was starting to seriously disrupt his life, but also he could never be attracted to Sarah. It was not that Sarah was unattractive, in fact she was a very stunning brunette with amazing blue eyes, it was that Sarah was so repulsive underneath her skin Jack could never stomach dating her. He had only ever liked girls who were good people; how girls looked never influenced his decision.

That was what was so amazing about Kim. She was witty, smart, a good friend and person- and she was beautiful too. Everyday he was in awe of her and yet he had still not told her how he had felt. Now, though, he felt that he could not tell her, at least for some time. If he told her now of his affections she would assume that it was a manifestation of the characters that they were playing or that he was doing this to enhance the allure of the play. Jack knew Kim and he knew that he was now permanently stuck in the friend zone.

His silence as he mulled over these thoughts did not seem to go unnoticed. Sarah shook his hand a little, which was still under the grasp of her own. The touch shook him back into reality and he swiftly pulled his hand away from her own, which only merited a pout from the brunette girl.

Fumbling with a response, he started, "Well, erm, thanks I guess. And don't worry about it. I get that it was stressful and ever-"

Jack never got to complete his thought because in the middle of his sentence, Mr. Fitzgerald barreled through the door and silenced Jack, "Mr. Anderson, if you would not mind to cease your flirting with Ms. Brooks perhaps I could move on and teach my lesson?"

The sixteen year old knew better than to retort to Mr. Fitzgerald. He was a miserable man who thought that he was leaps and bounds more intelligent than anyone on the plant. He also had a personal vendetta against Jack for no apparent reason. So instead of engaging in a conflict with the teacher, Jack just shut his mouth and tuned into the lesson.

Mr. Fitzgerald's class seemed to stretch on for an eternity, but as soon as the dismissal bell rang Jack was up and out of the door in the blink of an eye. He did not want to have to stay in that classroom any longer than he needed to spend there. However, the class did seem to distract him from his panic about the cast list. As he walked over to his locker, he was met with a chorus of male voices asking him why he was not heading down to the drama hallway. Wdoviak was putting up the cast list and all of the auditionees had already gathered to the sacred unveiling. In all honesty, Jack did not want to show his face down there. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a plethora of his peers congratulating him on the role that was going to single handedly destroy he and Kim's friendship. He wanted to prolong the news as long as possible.

Jerry, Eddie and Milton, however, were not going to let their friend avoid the list any longer. Jerry and Eddie each grabbed one of Jack's arms and started to drag the black belt down to the series of classrooms at the other end of the school.

Once they arrived, the teens did not need to look very hard as to where the list had been posted. There was a swarm of teenagers by one of the doors, which no doubt held the cast list that they were looking for. All four boys moved to take a step forward toward the list when Jack suddenly pulled away. In the midst of all of the students was a very distinct head of blonde hair. A sweet smile graced her lips as she waited anxiously with the rest of the students in the group.

"I can't do it, guys," Jack whispered.

"Yes," Jerry said pulling on Jack's arm, "you can. Come on Jack, don't crap out now." Jerry did not give Jack much of a choice in the matter. With a firm tug on his arm, Jack was thrown forward a little bit into the crowd of students. However, he did not exactly have control over his momentum, so he barreled right into Kim.

Catching her arms to balance himself, Jack gave his best friend wide eyes. A small blush graced her lips as she wittily retorted, "Hey stranger. Have you been avoiding me?"

"No," Jack chuckled letting go of Kim's arms so he could balance himself without support, "I just had a lot of stuff to do today. Anyway, is the list up?"

She shook her head and pointed toward the door, "Wdoviak is helping one of his students with a last minute question for his test tomorrow. As soon as he wraps up he's gonna post it." Her voice dropped below a whisper, "Are you excited?"

If Jack was going to answer honestly, he would have opted to say no. However, he could not say that to Kim, especially not now that she looked so excited at the prospect of getting to play this part. For as long as Jack had known Kim, he had never seen her more excited about anything. This play must have meant a lot to her, which only made Jack more determined to not let her down, "You bet. I mean, getting to work opposite of you? It's like a dream come true." That last part was one hundred percent honest.

Shoving him playfully she chuckled, "Oh please, Anderson. You flatter me."

"Well Crawford," he played along, "I am quite the Romeo, wouldn't you say?"

Just then, the classroom door squeaked open and a short freshman exited the classroom with books up to his chin. Following the small figure was the dark, mysterious Wdoviak carrying a small piece of paper. He waved it over his head to get the attention of the crowd before saying, "This right here is the cast list for the drama club's production of Romeo and Juliet. Please all be adults about the casting and understand that my decision is final. No part is up for discussion. Our first rehearsal is tomorrow after school, so please be prepared and read through acts one through three before then. Enjoy your afternoon."

Then he tacked up the cast list on the wall and the students all swarmed the list like bees to the hive. Jack, pressed inbetween Kim and a smelly sophomore, got a look at the cast list. It read as follows:

**Romeo Montague- **Jackson Anderson

**Juliet Capulet**- Kimberly Crawford

**Mercutio – **Matthew Jonson

**Tybalt Capulet**- Jerry Martinez

**Benvolio Montague- **Milton Krupnick

**Friar Lawrence- **Edward Jones

**Capulet- **Louis Novak

**Lady Capulet- **Sarah Brooks

**Nurse- **Megan Carter

**Prince Escalus- **Alexander Skylar

**Montague- **Christopher Fisketsis

**Lady Montague- **Amy Kessler

**Friar John- **Jake Sanders

**Peter- **Jake Sanders

**Sampson- **Gideon Kort

**Gregory- **Andrew Matthews

**Abram- **Kyle Ganges

**Balthasar- **Vahid Lin

**Friar John- **Gideon Kort

**An Apothecary- **Andrew Matthews

**Chorus- **Vahid Lin

A loud yelp rippled through the crowd of students as everyone allowed the cast list to sink into their skins. The scream was feminine and very, very shrill. "Where is Crawford?"

Out of impulse, Jack stepped in front of Kim to protect her from the impending voice. When the speaker finally arrived she revealed herself to be Sarah Brooks. Jack was not surprised in the slightest to see her so angry with the list. Less than an hour earlier, she was gloating to Jack that she deserved the part of Juliet. Now she knew that the part was not hers to claim. Kim's name was on that list because she deserved to play that part. If Jack did not already like her, her performance yesterday would have sealed the deal. The way she looked at him made him believe that she felt for him the way he felt for her, but, alas, it was just acting.

"Leave it alone, Brooks," Jack warned. Kim tried to push her way through Jack to fight her own battles, but he was keeping a firm grasp on the blonde. There was no way that he was going to allow her to pass through him right now. Sarah looked like she could seriously mame someone if she was provoked and Jack was not going to let that person be Kim.

She snarled at Jack, "Don't defend her Jack! She stole that part from me!"

"No I didn't!" Kim said pushing past Jack's arm so she was face to face with her accuser. Jack attempted to pull her away from the altercation, but all Kim did was shrug him off and turn back to Sarah, "I auditioned for that part and I got it. End of story, Brooks."

"Like hell it is. You and I both know you only got that part because Wdoviak ha a little crush on you. What'd you do to get that part Kim? Huh?"

That comment set Jack off. He towered over both of the girls so when stepped inbetween the pair of them the entire crowd that had formed around the group looked on eagerly awaiting Jack's next move. "Back off, Sarah," Jack said through gritted teeth. He had never struck a girl before, but there was always a first time for everything.

Noticing his tense expression, Kim put a calming hand on his arm, "No Jack. She isn't worth it. Come on, we have to get to the dojo anyway."

Silently agreeing with her, Jack turned and walked away. As Jack and Kim headed toward the exit, he heard Sarah's voice call after them, "Walk away, Crawford. But I'll see you at rehearsal tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey everyone. Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been really busy with work and this got put to the side. But here is an update for all of you people. This chapter was so long that I split it in two. Here is the first part. I will update the next part within the next two days. Also, your reviews all touched me so much. I am so motivated to write when I see what you all review. So keep reviewing. It is the fire underneath my bum. Seriously, I am so glad that you all enjoy it.**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Romeo and Juliet nor Kickin' It._

Sarah's insult echoed in Jack's ears all night long after the cast list had been posted. He could not even concentrate on his combinations in karate that afternoon because he had been so preoccupied with her obnoxious proclamation. Hell, even Milton had been able to flip Jack after school, which had only been accomplished once before when Jack had spent all night playing a video game. Then again, Milton only flipped Jack the earlier time because Jack had been so physically exhausted that he could not stand. But the practice following all of Sarah's drama, he had been overtaken by the skinny, confident, nerd because his head was just not in the sport. All of his thoughts were jumbled and Sarah was not the only reason why he was distracted.

With the cast list now public knowledge, the reality of Jack's role had hit him like a ton of bricks. The day before when Wdoviak had given Kim and Jack their respective parts, the shaggy haired brunette was filled with anxious nerves at the prospect of playing the part- now Jack had no idea how to even process it. His name was on the list, which meant that it solidified that Jackson Anderson was Romeo Montague. The earlier night he lied to himself a million times over that he was not really going to be in the play, that Wdoviak would change his mind at the last minute and give the role to Louis. There were little alarms in his head that told him Wdoviak would inevitably give the role to someone else. For one, he was no actor- he had never acted in his life- and could only play that part with Kim because he actually had feelings for her; two, he had no credit to his name in the realm of theatre, for all anyone knew Jack could flake out on the production a week before they opened; and three, Jack was obviously clueless as to what to do acting wise- his only redeeming quality was Kim.

But Kim was the reason why Jack had gotten the part. When she had looked at him during that callback with her perfectly, blue eyes and witty yet warm smile, she gave him the power to play a part that he never could have dreamed of playing. She awoke something deep within his soul and the words slipped through his lips riding on the air that she gave him to fly out flawlessly. He felt as if he had read Shakespeare everyday of his life after that audition with her because she made him understand what Shakespeare was talking about. Before Kim, Jack would have looked at those words as jumbled nonsense, but now Jack knew what it was like to look at a girl and have his every thought and moment dedicated to her. Romeo made sense to him.

Therefore, when Jack had lay down for bed that night after a long, tiring day of karate and cast lists- he was restless. The part was now his to do as he pleased. Romeo and Jack were about to fuse and become one-in-the-same, but he was still afraid. There was so much baggage that came along with this part and he was not certain that he was ready to adopt it all so quickly. He was comforted by the fact that all of his friends would be there to support him all of the way and that Kim would be there to have his Romeo make sense, but at the same time he was terrified that this role would ruin he and Kim's relationship and that his friends would resent him by the end of the process. All of this was too much for a sixteen year old to handle.

Finally, after hours of tossing and turning with these thoughts fresh in his mind, Jack fell asleep. His mind became calm as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. After all of the stresses of the past few days, his mind was protecting his sanity by sparing him the torture of dreams. The last thing he remembered of the lucid world was the thought that he had his first practice the next day and that he was not ready for what he had in store.

The next morning Jack awoke feeling more at rest than he had felt the past few days. A night without dreams had done his mind and body wonders. His dreams would have only have reinforced his worries and doubts about the production of Romeo and Juliet. He desperately needed a night free of the pressure of the impending play because the next month of his life was going to be overtaken by William Shakespeare and his band of merry actors. Unfortunately for Jack, he was now counted as one of the actors in Shakespeare's clutches. His life, he feared, would forever be altered by a man who had been dead for hundreds of years.

However, Jack's day continued on much more positively than he had anticipated when he first awoke that morning. The fixation with the school play had subsided somewhat and Jack found that less people cared about his character than he had previously thought. He supposed that the school had only been interested in the cast list because of the gossip that surrounded the cast. Now that the list was public domain people had accepted reality and moved on with their own lives. There was no need to speculate about whom would get what part because the parts were distributed.

Jack was in such high spirits that he even joined his friends that day at lunch, including Kim. To a certain degree, Jack still had a difficult time adjusting to Kim's presense now that they were officially playing star-crossed lovers, but he had improved from hiding in the hall from her the day before. He even spoke to her about the weather during the course of lunch, which was an improvement from the previous day.

Math, however, had been quite the challenge. Sarah, who had been willing to touch Jack's hand and flirt with him the day before, would not even look at him in math. Upon entering the room, Jack attempted to give her a small smile, but she merely shrugged it off and turned her seat slightly away from his own. Sarah was loathsome in Jack's eyes, so he did not mind her new seating arrangements, but it did not stop him from feeling somewhat sorry for the fallen diva.

All years prior, Sarah had been the single shinning star of her drama department. Within her circle, she was loved by all and envied by many. To accept that she was now a supporting role must have been challenging for her. Even though Jack did not understand the first thing about theatre, he could equate her feelings to karate. Whenever Jack was enrolled in a competition he had the horrible habit of never loosing. No matter who Jack competed against, excluding his cheating cousin Kai, he could defeat them. It was not like Jack expected to be granted with each trophy that he received, because he was not naïve enough to think that everything in his life was guaranteed to him, but he would be disappointed if he ever lost a competition. Sarah loosing the part of Juliet out to Kim had to be a similar sting to loosing a competition. So even though he did not like Sarah's attitude or outlook on life, he still sympathized with the crazed brunette.

At one point in the midst of their math class, Jack had even tried to reach out to Sarah to congratulate her on her own part. However, Mr. Fitzgerald, who always seemed to be watching Jack out of the corner of his eye to punish him, interrupted Jack's congratulations and chastised him in front of the entire class. But Sarah did seem to notice his effort to console her in the middle of Mr. Fitzgerald's rant. She threw him a small smile of thanks before returning to her math homework. Perhaps he had misjudged Sarah, she was still loathsome and a bitch, but she had feelings as well and this whole situation had to be difficult for her as well. Even if it was difficult for her in the most egotistical, materialistic way.

When the bell rang to signal the end of math, Jack decided to break up his usual pattern of rushing out of the door. He and Sarah both had to go to practice, so he figured, to let out an olive branch, he would offer walking together to practice. Even if she declined Jack would know that he had done his very best to try and be civil with the wounded actress.

Her crystal blue eyes looked at Jack curiously as he waited up for her just beyond the door. For a moment, the two teenagers sized each other up as they tried to figure out what the other wanted from them. Jack finally relented and turned his hardened face into a tentative smile, "Hey Sarah."

She still did not seem convinced with his actions. He could not blame her. The day prior he had been willing to get into a physical confrontation with her because of the way she had spoken to Kim. And every part of him still screamed for him to fight for the honor of Kim with Sarah. He had disrespected the blonde and Jack was still furious about the words exchanged. But he was nothing if he was not a gentlemen, so he decided to leave the dueling to the stage where it belonged.

"Hell Jackson," she said shortly and coldly. With a huff, she brushed her shoulder right past his own as she scurried down the hallway to pass him. He stood there shocked at her behavior, but he eventually decided to leave the issue alone. Jack had been more then willing to try and strike up some kind of alliance with her, but she was blowing him off and severing any chance that the two of them had at being civil. Then again, he should have known that a Montague and a Capulet could not be friends. Only one Capulet bent the rules, but Jack was certain that she was the exception to every rule in the good book.

Pulling his backpack over his left shoulder, Jack hopped off to the theatre hallway, which was slowly starting to become a part of the school that he was very familiar with. Prior to Romeo and Juliet, he could not even figure out where exactly the theatre hallway was in Seaford High School. In fact, he was certain that he did not even know such a hallway existed. Now, however, he knew this hallway relatively well. By the end of the show, no doubt, he would be able to walk these halls blind folded.

When he reached the classroom that had held the callbacks and auditions, Jack noticed that the door was locked and the lights were off. He peeked his head in the window when he noticed a sign that read:

_Practice today in the auditorium. Please remember scripts. –W_

The little note cleared up Jack's confusion and after checking his backpack for his script, he headed down to the theatre for rehearsal.

Upon entering the theatre, which Jack had admittedly only ever been in for assemblies, he saw a very odd sight. At least to his eyes. There were students and their things strewn all about in the first three rows. Backpacks, purses and snacks lay about all over the chairs, hung over the seats and tucked into the corners of the chairs. The actors and actresses were sitting on the floor stretching and chatting and eating with one another. Even Milton was stretching his leg muscles to prepare for rehearsal. He never knew that theatre was so physically demanding.

Setting his own stuff down, Jack walked over to his friends who were huddled on the stairs leading up to the stage. Jerry had his script in hand as he sat on the top step listening to Eddie speak. The more pungent Wasabi Warrior was seated on the step just below Jerry and they were discussing the prospect of fencing in the show.

"Nah man," Eddie argued, "I wouldn't get to use a sword in this show. I'm the smelly old man."

"What are you trying to say, Eddie. Huh? That smelly, old men don't deserve swords too? That's racist," Jerry reasoned.

"Discriminatory," Jack laughed as he joined the conversation.

"I know Jack, that's what I said," Jerry said seriously.

Eddie shook his head, "No- you said racist. Its different!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes, it is."

"No it isn't!"  
"Yes it is!"

"Nope!"

"Yeah."

"Uh uh!"

"Yep."

"Wrong!"

"Not wrong, Jerry!"

"Yes you are, Eddie!"

"No I'm not!"

"SHUT UP!" An outside voice echoed throughout the theatre. All eyes of the entire cast turned to see Wdoviak standing at the entrance of the theatre screaming down at Eddie and Jerry's tiny fight. His dominating precense in the room silenced all thoughts of the fight that had been brewing between the two teens. Slowly and deliberately, Wdoviak walked down the isle of the theatre. When he reached the stage he flicked his hand back and forth, gesturing for Eddie and Jerry to get off of the stairs so he could get up to the stage. He seemed to glide up the stairs as he walked them, until he finally reached the center of the stage.

Clearing his throat, he continued on, "Now, if you all wouldn't mind coming up on the stage to join me. We are going to start rehearsal," Flickering his eyes to the two loud teenagers he asked, "Is that alright with you, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Jones?"

The two only gulped in response. He was frightening them both, so they obliged. Honestly, Jack could not blame either of his friends for their painfully obvious fear at Mr. Wdoviak. The drama club adviser had been the central object of rumors all around the school ever since Jack entered High School. When he was a freshman there was a rumor milling about that Wdoviak taped his students to the wall if they lost any acting competitions and left them their over night to think about their loss. Whether or not this rumor was true was all about to personal belief, but Jack, himself, was always partial to the philosophy that there was a grain of truth in everything said, which meant that the rumor had to come from some small nugget of truth.

With Jerry and Eddie quickly rushing up the stairs, the rest of the cast seemed to follow in suit until finally everyone was up on the stage. Jack stood awkwardly in between the two boys who were just chastised as they all waited for some kind of instruction. He had never been to a rehearsal for a play before, so the proper procedures were unbenowest to him. For all Jack knew, the entire rehearsal could consist of htose odd siren noises that he had heard in the hallway during the day of his audition. He seriously hoped that this was not the case, but he was not entirely sure what they would be doing.

Once they were all gathered, Wdoviak spoke again, "Now everyone, can you all get in a circle and then sit down on the floor? Once we are all settled and accounted for then we will start rehearsal."

There was a moment of shuffling amongst the students as they arranged themselves in a circle for Wdoviak before everyone slowly started to sit down one-by-one. After a minute or two of following his instructions, all of the students were now safely and quietly sitting on the floor. Not a sound could be heard as they awaited Wdoviak to speak. The older man had started the rehearsal quite sternly, so no one was brave enough to talk again. The rumors of his wrath were starting to sink into Jack quickly- he was not a man to be reckoned with.

His dark eyes scanned all of his students before he continued, "Now… Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William-"

The door to the auditorium swung open with a loud and definitive thud. All of the eyes that were once fixated on Wdoviak had snapped to look at the intruder to the rehearsal. And there, standing at the top of the isle in the theatre, was a petite blond who looked rather frazzled. "Sorry I'm late," Kim apologized, "I had to make up a test after school and it ran over-"

"Very well, Miss Crawford. Please just join us up on the stage. I was in the middle of a rehearsal," Wdoviak interrupted.

Her face flushed a light pink and she nodded, "Yes, sir." She scurried down the isle and up the stairs, throwing her backpack on a seat during her travel, and onto the stage to join her peers. Kim looked around for an open seat in the circle before she finally settled on sitting right next to Milton. The seat was far enough away from Wdoviak where he could not make any further comments to her about her tardiness. Then again, Wdoviak was thoroughly unpredictable. That was the part of him that worried Jack immensely.

Clearing his throat, Wdoviak tipped his glasses off the end of his nose, "Anyway, as I was saying Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is perhaps his most famous play and has become an icon in modern society for love and passion. However, we are here to tell the story of Romeo and Juliet, not to romanticize a story that is deeply tragic and whose themes are not about love, but about war. Romeo and Juliet is about the tragedy of war, ladies and gentlemen. If anyone has told you otherwise they are romantic pond scum who want to read into something that is not there."

His comment sent everyone's eyebrows shooting way up into the sky. Although Jack was no Shakespearean scholar, he had always thought that Romeo and Juliet was a love story. Now Wdoviak was harshly telling him that he was wrong and that he was pond scum all in the same sentence. A side of him wanted to raise his hand and ask why that logic upheld, but Wdoviak was too scary to question.

"For those of you who are confused, Romeo and Juliet is, on the surface, a love story, but the themes are not love. Instead, the message of this play is the destruction of war. Romeo and Juliet are two people who cannot express their feelings because of a war between their families- this war splits them apart and leads to their eventual deaths. It is war that leads to the end of this play, not love. Love, which is strong, cannot overcome the hate. And THAT is the story we are going to tell. We are not going to fill our audiences minds with some Hollywood crap, we are going to tell the story as it is and hopefully people walk away from our show wanting to leave behind hate and embrace love. Because hate consumes all of the good in the world and if we can help stop even one person from enforcing hate we have done our jobs as actors."

No one moved a muscle after Wdoviak's small speech. There was nothing to say. As much as his words were a lot to process, he made a valid point. Rudy had always tried to enforce that idea with his students in the dojo. He told them that violence was never the answer because violence had the ability to take all of the good in a situation and consume it. Without goodness, there was not point anything. It seemed that Shakespeare agreed with Rudy.

Seeing that his students were still digesting his large, over-arching direction with the play, Wdoviak shook his head in a frustrated manner, "We will tackle that concept more later, but I want to talk to all of you now. Today I was hoping that we would go around the circle and talk about our characters. It would give everyone a chance to hear what you have to say about your character and perhaps talking about your character could help all of you figure out who they are as people. Now, I asked you all to read acts one through three, so we can work off of that. So.. who'd like to go first?"

Now that the floor was open for everyone to speak, it seemed that the entire cast had lost their ability to speak. No one wanted to be the first person to offer up any information about their character. The fear of what Wdoviak would say or do during their own small speeches ran deep within the fiber of every person sitting in the circle.

Finally, Wdoviak decided to intervene and snapped his head in Jerry's direction, "Ah, Mr. Martinez, thank you for offering to go first."

Jerry suddenly looked very panicked at the prospect of being the first to speak. Jack, who was sitting snug between him and Eddie, nudged Jerry so he could do something besides gulp like a fish in mid-air. Snapping out of his daze, Jerry gulped, "Oh right, um, you're welcome, sir. Okay, so I play this bro named Tybalt." He paused for a minute as he tried to remember everything that he had sparknoted the night before on his computer. "And Tybalt, yo, he's a really bad bro. But he's only bad because he was raised by people who were really bad too. His family is a vicious circle of hatred, so he can't be different, right? It's, like, really hard to break away from what you grow up with, you know? He's got all this angst and anger about stuff that he was just told to be angry about. Personally, I don't think Tybalt has any personally problems with the Montagues, but his family is all they-are-the-bad-guys-man. What is he supposed to think? And in the end, he gets royally screwed because he kills this guy who was sort of the inbetween both families. He sort of blurs the line of hatred and shit goes down hill."

In the midst of Jerry's colloquial speak and incorrect grammar, Jack and the entire student body felt there was substance to what Jerry was saying. He had found a way to say in liamens terms that the two families did not even know what they were fighting about in the play. It was old grudges that spurned new ones and that hatred was like a cancer. Hatred spread throughout every member of the families like cancer spread through every part of a person's body. Actually, the play now, by Jerry's brief explanation, was far more tragic than Jack had ever anticipated. He had thought for years that Romeo and Juliet was about the star-crossed lovers, but he was wrong. The play was about the young people of the world who suffer from their parents' mistakes. That was an ideal that Jack could understand.

The air in the room changed drastically once Jerry stopped talking. It seemed that Jack was not the only person in the room who was digesting his best friend's words. All eyes were focused on Jerry and the Latino boy looked very uncomfortable. As if he was a bug underneath an eye glass. But no one could tear their eyes away from Jerry. And Mr. Wdoviak looked pleasantly surprised. When he had spoken earlier, Jack supposed that was what the older man was getting at. It was much easier, however, to understand Jerry's manner of explaining it then Mr. Wdoviak's explanation.

Coughing to draw attention back to himself, Wdoviak said, "Right. Very good Jerry." Clapping his hands, he continued, "Now who wants to follow that?"

Again silence.

Jack certainly did not want to follow that explanation. It was deep, profound and even had a tinge of sadness to it. His words made the whole world of the play a little more realistic than it had been before. No wonder the world had been enchanted by Romeo and Juliet for hundreds of years. It was a scary story and a warning for all people of what hatred spurned.

Wdoviak, however, did not seem entirely thrilled with everyone's silence. He was there to work on his play and all of them did not want talk. They were supposed to be actors and actors were supposed to be a chatty bunch. So he looked straight at Sarah and said, "Ms. Brooks, would you care to talk about your character?"

Jack nearly flinched at the sound of Sarah's name. That was going to be a disaster. He knew that the pretty brunette was still very upset about the part that she was cast in, so all of her words were no doubt going to have some venom in them. Even though Kim was a few seats away from him, Jack felt the impulse to physically shield his friend. Her words would hurt people emotionally, not physically, but anything that Jack could do to protect Kim he wanted to do. Alas, he stayed in his seat next to Jerry. He did not want anyone to look at him oddly. People would ask questions as to why he had moved his seat in front of Kim and he was not prepared to answer of those questions. So he would suffer his rage silently in his seat if Sarah so much slighted Kim.

In Sarah fashion, she flipped her hair out of her face and smiled a stupid, fake smile in Wdoviak's direction. Dragging out her words she replied, "Of course, Mr. Wdoviak. I would be glad to go next."

Jerry actually snorted when Sarah spoke, which only forced Sarah to send daggers in Jerry's direction. Jack smiled at the whole exchange because Jerry simply rolled his eyes. He did not care about Sarah Brooks at all. Ever since Kim, Jerry and Jack had gotten older and moved up the ranks in high school, the three of us were considered some of the more popular people in the high school. So if Sarah Brooks was mad at Jerry, it did not make any difference in his life. And even if it did, he wouldn't give a shit about someone as bitchy as Sarah Brooks.

"Anyway," she drawled, "Lady Capulet is Juliet's wiser and prettier mother."

Jack's fists clenched at her words and he could feel his jaw tighten considerably. Jerry, who knew of his friend's affections towards Kim, clapped him on the back with a smile on his face so no one suspected why Jerry had just down that action. In his own way, Jerry was telling Jack to calm down. There would be no point in growing upset at Sarah's words. Jack knew without hesitation that Kim Crawford was far prettier and all around better than Sarah. Her words were from her own insecurities.

"And Lady Capulet, because she was so pretty in her youth, was married off to Lord Capulet. There isn't a lot of love in their marriage, so that causes some friction between the pair of them. However, the one thing that they agree on is that Juliet is a stupid, little girl who only has one use for them- marriage. That is why they try to marry her off to Paris, which she royally screws over when she sluts it up with Romeo. Also, Lady Capulet has this weird thing going on with her nephew Tybalt. I don't really know what is going on there, but it definitely is a quirk of the time. And that is the beautiful Lady Capulet." Sarah finished her words with a smug look on her face. And Jack wanted to wipe that smile off of her face. But he stopped himself from making any sort of movement toward the teenager. He did not want to start this entire process with any sort of fighting.

However, Wdoviak did not seem very pleased with Sarah's sour explanation of Lady Capulet. Her words were laced with jealousy and only an idiot, like Louis, would have missed her blatant disrespect of Kim.

"Right," Wdoviak sighed, "thank you Sarah. Anyone else?"

Awkwardly, a hand rose into the air. Jack turned his head to see who rose their hand and saw Kim sitting on the floor with a blush on her face. Wdoviak's face lit up at her hand and he said encouragingly, "Yes Kim? Would you like to go?"

She nodded her head slowly, "Erm, yes sir."

At the sound of her voice, Jack's entire face lit up. He was pathetic. Everything that Kim did seemed to make Jack's world just a little bit brighter. The black belt was just about to turn seventeen- he should not have been so easily affected by one person, much less a girl. But the facts were that Kim Crawford was different. The fiery blonde kept him on his toes and made him smile when she did the smallest of things. She just fit him. He wasn't even looking for her and one day she was there. He did not want to say that he loved her, because what did he know of love, but his feelings were strong. They were so strong that they seeped into every part of his life until he awaited the next time that he saw her.

"Well," her voice sounded, "my character is Juliet Capulet. In a lot of ways, she's just a little girl. She's too young to know about love or passion or sacrifice and yet, she meets this boy who changes everything. She finds herself, who was once a person extremely logical and level headed, doing impulsive things when Romeo is around. She meets him and tells herself over and over again that to succumb to her feelings would mess up her entire life. She had a routine, a place that was her own and people that accepted her. And yet, she throws it all away for a group of people that she was taking a chance on. But these people that she throws away her old life for end up loving her. Romeo and Friar Lawrence want to take care of her and be her family. But its hard to leave your family and she finds herself stuck inbetween the life that she wants and the life that she was born into. But this boy, oh this boy, he is perfect. You can dream up a perfect man and he wouldn't even touch Romeo. True, for a lot of people Romeo is rough around the edges, he's a little conceited and he knows the power that he holds over people. Underneath all of that though is this person that she just can't stay away from. And she tries. I think at the end of the play, she kills herself because she could live without him, but it wouldn't be the life that she wanted. He changes her for the better and the world just doesn't want them to be together. It's really quite sad."

All throughout Kim's mini-speech, Jack analyzes everything that Kim says. In his own mind, he hears Kim talking about the Black Dragons and Jack's own cockiness and her inability to stop herself from being impulsive when she is with him. He knows that she was talking about her character, but Jack wants to believe that there was a part of Kim that was talking about him too. Because if her small speech even had a grain of truth in it, he would have leapt across the circle at her and kissed her with everything that he had.

But he knew that she was not talking about him. His fantasies were only that- fantasies. Feeling so deeply for someone who did not love him back was really starting to mess with his mind. He did not know if he would be emotionally ready to let Kim pretend to love him on stage. All of her touches, kisses and words would be fake. It would be hard for him. That much he knew.

Wdoviak, though, was all smiles at Kim's expanation of Juliet. It seemed that whatever he wanted Kim to say she had hit the nail right on the head. How could Wdoviak even think that Kim would not be perfect? Everything she said was beautiful and tragic. This play was going to be a pain in the ass.

The older man grinned, "That was perfect Kim. You see everyone? Kim recognizes that Juliet is flawed, that she changes as the play progresses, that impulsion is her and Romeo's weakness. Jack," he said looking at the boy across the circle, "why don't you go next. Follow Juliet, if you will."

He audibly groaned, which earned him a pointed look from Wdoviak. Jack did not want to go next. He had a feeling that if he spoke about Romeo's feelings it would only manifest into his own feelings toward Kim. That would be a disaster.

"Yes sir," Jack sighed. His brown eyes found Kim's and he spoke directly to her. He did not know what possessed him to look her direction, but his words would feel empty unless they were directed toward her. He knew that this play would prevent him from telling her his true feelings without seeming false, but maybe if he spoke to her she would understand somewhat what he was going through, "Romeo is a Montague. That right there is a problem. When you first meet Romeo he is the modern equivalent to a player. He loves this girl Rosaline who everyone knows he really doesn't love. Romeo just really likes women and likes when women like him. He's used to women falling for his charm because no woman has ever not fallen for him before. And then, he meets Juliet. She is this beautiful, enchanting girl and he can't take his eyes off of her. But in his stupidity he tries all of his old tricks on her. And I think things change for him when she is the first girl to be smarter than his tricks. She is so much better than he is. I mean, he is so undeserving of her. So I think when he finds out that she loves him too he can't contain himself. He feels like he doesn't deserve her. She's this angel who he could never be good enough for with all of his imperfections. And yet, she calms his down. She makes him better. She completes his life that he never knew was empty until she comes along. It's hard for him, though, to love someone out of his reach. And so he keeps screwing up the entire play because he is human and she is not. He's imperfect And his imperfections lead him to kill and eventually kill himself because what life is there for him without her. He wants her more than he ever wanted anything. It's a shame really because he falls for an angel and he's the reason why she falls."

The room dropped silent. Jack and Kim's eyes were connected and every person in the room could feel the electricity coursing through their link. It was as if the entire room was live and nothing could stop the echo of Jack's words. No one knew for certain if he was addressing himself and Kim, but everyone knew one thing for certain. This play was about to get very intense… very quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey Guys, Sorry I've been MIA. Back to school has been hard. BUT here you all go. I wanted to update. ESPECIALLY After Hit the Road Jack… Enjoy! OH AND REVIEW!**

Rehearsals had been going anything short of awkward since the first rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet. The common tone at rehearsal- besides Sarah's frequent breakdowns about the absurdity of Kim's casting- was a whirlpool of tension. Even though Jack could not be certain that Kim recuperated any of his feelings, he knew that he had been painfully obvious about his own. The entire cast had been treating him like a wounded puppy dog after he had given a character synopsis and breakdown that first day of rehearsals. The dojo was even a stale place to practice. No one was quite certain how to approach the topic at hand, especially given that Kim studied there.

However, there were, in the week following that initial rehearsal, a few times when Kim was absent at the dojo. She had been spending a lot of time at rehearsal with Wdoviak trying to build her character development beyond the romantic aspect of Juliet. Wdoviak felt, because Juliet was only even seen in a romantic setting, that the pair of them needed to discuss who Juliet was as a solo character and not as a companion to Romeo. It was during those private practice times that Jack took out most of his aggression at his situation on whomever was his sparing partner that particular day. Today it was Jerry.

After one clean kick his best friend hit the floor with a loud thud. Everyone watching visibly cringed at the contact. Not only was it uncomfortable to see Jerry hit the ground with his back twisted in a ball, but Jerry's hand rebounded off of the floor once he made contact. All in all, it did not look like a comfortable position. This was only enforced when he groaned and would not get up from his spot on the ground.

Jack, seeing his friend in pain, unclenched his fists from a sparring position and jogged over to offer Jerry his hand. The Latino boy took the hand and pulled himself off of the ground. Moaning and groaning as he stood, he cursed under his breath in Spanish before his hand moved to the back of his head to rub it.

His brown eyes shot up to Jack's with an exhausted expression, "Jesus, Jack. That really, really hurt. Take it easy, will ya?" The brunette was suddenly filled with guilt at the violence that was now apparent in his move. The last thing that he wanted to do was hurt his friend, but he was so frustrated with his situation in rehearsal that he was projecting.

Clapping his friend on the shoulder apologetically, he mused, "I'm sorry man. Look, I'm just so damn frustrated. This whole play thing is messing with my head."

Milton, who had been standing by watching the spar, walked over to the pair and shook his head, "We know Jack, we're there too. But you have been unfairly taking out your issues emotionally on others, which, if you ask my opinion, is cruel."

Eddie shook his head and pushed Milton a bit out of the way, "We weren't asking for your opinion Milton. We're talking to Jack about his attitude problem, not his social etiquette."

"I detest your accusation, but since you used the word etiquette, I am willing to forget about it. Only because you used that word." Jack, in spite of himself, smiled at his friends' antics. The world could have been falling apart, which in Jack's own world things sort of were, and they all would still be in this dojo bantering like it was no problem. They were a nice, stable part of Jack's life that he could always count on to be there whenever he needed them. It seemed that whenever Jack's life was having its ups and downs they would be there for him whenever for whatever he needed. It was a rarity to find friends like his at his dojo.

Eddie swerved his head around in an attempt to project attitude, "Well I detest your face, bro!"

"Oh snap, crackle, pop," Jerry cackled as he walked over to Milton, "He told you man! He was all like your Mom with that joke." Jack wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but with Jerry it was never a safe bet to actually take what he said literally. Kim always joked that Jerry speak needed to be its own language. To which Jerry replied that he would gladly write the manual.

Kim.

That name was the center of all of his problems. Actually, the center of the problem was the girl behind the name. If he had learned one thing from Romeo thus far, it was not the name that mattered, but the person behind the name. Juliet was a Capulet, but love was not defined by names, rather by emotions. Unluckily for Romeo, people who fell into a vortex of hate destroyed his love, which is all consuming.

However, Jack was starting to feel that way about him and Kim. The pair of them were not in love, at least he did not think so, but this place was starting to taint any chance he could have had with her. He did not know if she liked him or not, in fact he rather doubted that he did, but whatever chance he could have had with her was now destroyed by other people pulling the strings. Ironically, the people now limiting their relationship were Romeo and Juliet. These poor characters were stinting any growth for their relationship. The last thing that Jack wanted Kim to think was that he liked her because he was so caught up in his character. He just liked her.

And now that everyone at rehearsal was in tune to the fact that he had feelings for her- because of his stupid mouth at that first rehearsal when he spoke about "Romeo"- it made the whole situation even more difficult. People now held expectations or judged their acting abilities. They were constantly on display whether they were acting on stage or not.

All Jack wanted to do was hide away and forget all about his problems, but every time he even considered letting go of Kim and his feelings towards her he would think of her eyes. Those eyes that drew him in like a siren called a sailor to their death. It was enchanting and dangerous at the same time. That was who Kim was for him. She was his siren. His beautiful, dangerous, wonderful siren.

"Jerry he did not mention my mother once in that sentence," Milton said snapping Jack back into the conversation between the four boys.

The Latino shook his head with laughter and waved off his sweater wearing friend, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say homie. But that wasn't what we were talking about." Jerry turned his head to Jack quickly and gave him a serious expression. Very rarely did Jerry become serious enough where one of his expressions could be constituted as serious. Most people would call a somewhat serious Jerry just funny looking. However, in that moment his best friend was one hundred percent serious.

"Dude," he said in a low timbre, "You are worrying us, you're worrying me. Okay, so like you are always aggressive, yo. Its like who you are and some shit, but not like this. You are like in a zone. All you do is so calculated now. You need to calm down. I get right now is tense for you." He paused and clapped his friend on the shoulder, "But you can't take it out on us… mostly me."

Jerry was right. In the time that Jack had known Jerry, his friend- although somewhat misguided- was typically right. He looked at the world in stark colors and things were just the way that they were presented. There were no in-betweens with Jerry. It was yes or no with him. And right now, he was certain that the Latino was right. Jack needed to calm down. This play was messing with his head.

So the following day at rehearsal, Jack walked into the auditiorum and tried to compose himself to the best of his ability. The entire rehearsal went off without a hitch. They practiced huge ensemble pieces, like the ball and the stage combat sequences, and all the while Jack avoided Kim beyond the spectrum of his character. There was not much he could say to her without fear of going off the deep end and reacting in a dangerous manner. He did not want to snap or get defensive in any manner.

While the entire cast was on stage learning how to dance for the ball scene, Jack sat in the auditorium attempting to learn his lines. As he tried to memorize the scene between himself and Tybalt, Jack heard someone plop down in a seat beside him. The silky blonde haired teenager smiled at him as she looked on at him expectantly.

Putting his script down, he asked curiously, "Yes Kimberly?"

"One, don't call me that," she said with a slightly growl to her voice, "And second, Wdoviak wants us to go and run lines outside." Jack's heart literally dropped at the sound of their director's request. Ever since they had started this whole rehearsal process, Jack and Kim had never spent any alone time together practicing as their characters. Wdoviak either had them on the stage in front of the entire cast or the director had them working just with him in his office. The black belt had never had to face Kim one on one since the show had started rehearsals.

She threw him a small pout and tried to pull him out of his seat, "Come on Jack. Please! I really want to get some of this dialogue down. Pretty, pretty please?" Her blue eyes expressed a sad hue and her bottom lip furled over her top lip. She was begging him in the most adorable fashion he had ever seen. With someone as beautiful as Kim pulling the strings to Jack's heart things could have spiraled wildly out of control. It seemed that with only the snap of her dainty, karate trained fingers she could make him do anything. Jack Anderson did not like being out of control. It was something that he felt was a weakness. And Kim Crawford was his weakness.

Sighing, he pulled himself out of the chair with his script in hand, "Fine. You vixen, you."

She beamed at him and gave him a pleased smirk. Whether or not Jack liked it, Kim Crawford had just conned him into rehearsing with her the way that she wanted. Again, her crystal blue eyes were dangerous to him. At any moment she could abuse her powers and he would let her. Let her do whatever she felt she wanted to because he cared about her that much.

His shoulders slumped, Jack walked out of the auditorium and into the adjacent hallway outside. Kim was already standing there jumping up and down to try and focus herself. Her eyes were shut and she bounced a little mumbling to herself what he could only assume were lines. She was beautiful even then.

Clearing his throat to make her aware of his arrival, Jack waved at Kim, "Earth to Tigger?" Jack's here… Jack Anderson? The one that you guilted into coming out here."

Her eyes snapped open and she smirked at him, "Oh you know you love me, Jack." If only she knew how true that statement was to him. He felt his smile waver for just a moment until he threw a grin back on his lips. He did not want Kim to think that he liked her as much as he did. If she already knew, which he hoped she did not, it already made things awkward. The last thing he wanted to do was wear his heart of his sleeve to make it any more painfully obvious.

"Yeah, yeah," he settled for instead of a whole, full-fledged confession, "Whatever you say, Kimmy. Now what scene do you want to do?"

Her blue eyes narrowed into slits. She put her hands on her hips, before she snapped, "Do not call me Kimmy, Jack Anderson. If you value your life, that is."

Chuckling loudly, he put his hands up in defense, "Touchy, touchy, Kim. Don't blow your casket. Wouldn't want you to hurt me. Of course, we both know who the best black belt in the dojo is." His last words were accompanied by a playful smirk. Before this whole play incident Jack and Kim had always worked like this- the playful banter. It was his way of focusing his feelings for her and letting them out in a healthy, productive way. Also, it gave him immense pleasure to see Kim Crawford royally pissed off.

She cocked an eyebrow, "Best black belt in the dojo, hmm? Well, I don't know if that's true Jack. Why don't we settle this right now and find out for sure." She put her script down and put her fists up. Her blue eyes searched his brown ones for any sign to strike. That was when he backed off.

"Okay, okay, you win. We are equally as good," Jack chuckled. She threw him a small smile and put down her fists. She seemed nollified at the present moment. Of course, the thing that Jack really liked about Kim was how she could, at any moment, be prone to a fit of rage and she could just attack. Like a cute, little, rapid bunny.

"Good," she grinned. Her blue eyes shifted down to her script that was now laying flat on the ground. When she looked back up at Jack she had a thought brewing in her head, "Let's try one of our scenes from memory. See if we remember everything and if we don't, we know what to study."

The taller boy nodded in agreement with her, "Sounds like a plan. Should we do staging or no?" That was the question that he wanted to know. Although he and Kim had not kissed since the callback, because Wdoviak wanted to wait until later in the rehearsal process to add those in, they still had enormous stretches of staging where they were brushed up against each other, which- as a teenage boy- was sometimes problematic for Jack.

"I guess with the staging," Kim reasoned, "because we need to start associating the words that we are saying with the actions that we are doing. The sooner we do that, the better off we will be." As much as her logic made sense, Jack did not want to do a lick of their staging. It meant that he would be placed in an impossible situation. One that he was not sure he wanted to handle at the moment. The more he distanced himself from Kim, the easier it was to handle this whole play for him emotionally.

"Okay," he said cautiously, "What scene?"

"Why not go in chronological order?" She suggested, "I mean, we might as well work on that scene anyway. Its rather important, don't you think?" If he was honest with her, the answer would have been no. The answer would have been that his heart manipulated him into auditioning to spare Kim's feelings. If he was honest with himself, he did not want to be here at all. This play was too much for any one sane guy to handle.

Instead of saying these things, he settled instead to say, "Yeah, sure. Sounds fine." His head was screaming for him to just run away, but every time that he looked at Kim his heart was victor over his head. It was as if the two were in a never ending game of cat and mouse except the head only ever caught the heart when it was already broken.

"Cool," she smiled, "You start." His heart dropped in his stomach. He had forgotten that he had the first line in this scene. Romeo approached Juliet, at least in their staged production, in the corner of the room. The two were by a door in their staging and Romeo gradually pushed Juliet out of the door and into the next room where they had their staging. In this version, it was so that none of the onlookers could see the pair of them talking in the next secluded room. That way they could make the scene more intimate, which was what Wdoviak was going for in his production.

So Jack tried to clear his head before he walked up behind Kim and grabbed her hand from behind. Startled Kim turned around and eyed him curiously as his character. She tried to speak, but he stopped her, "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:" He kissed her hand as she watched him awe-inspired, " My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand," his eyes traveled to hers and he took a step into her so their bodies were touching. His brown eyes flickered down to her blue ones as he started to lean into her lips. He longed to kiss them, to touch them, to bridge the gap between their bodies. As he leaned in, he whispered above her lips, "To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

The blonde pulled away from his rather hastily and retreated into the imaginary other room away from the life of the party. All as she walked away, she rambled off her excuses to try and retain her image as a lady, "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much," she spun around to see him. Jack or Romeo was now looking on at her with a silly grin on his face. It was apparent in his eyes that he running away would not dissuade him from his final mission- her lips. So she continued to ramble, "Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, " She pressed her hands together in a prayer like manner to display to him that she was a holy woman who was not interested in his games. And yet, in her eyes, there was a glimmer of want. Something deep down that she could not control, "And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

Romeo stalked over to Juliet and wrapped his hands around her prayer, folded hands. He pulled her closer so that her hands, still folded in prayer, were pressed up against his chest. Her blue eyes flew down to the floor to avoid his gaze. To try and ease her worry, he reasoned, "Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" All he wanted to do was kiss her. Her lips were begging him to, but it was not appropriate yet. Only Romeo was supposed to be feeling these things, Jack was just a friend. And friends did not touch.

Juliet tried to pull her hands out of his grasp, to which he only held on tighter. She struggled to try and escape him and return to her merriment in the next room, yet Romeo would not release her. He had her in his grips. As she struggled, she said, "Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer." She said the last worded rather pointed to him. The intent of her words were to explain to him that she was a lady, not a whore of her times.

Romeo pulled her even closer to her as she tried to get away and he waited for her to stop struggling. When she seemed to be ready to listen, he said seriously, "O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do," he started to lean into her lips and he could feel Kim going limp at the proximity of their lips. His eyes fluttered shut as he whispered, "They pray," they touch, "grant thou, lest faith turn into despair."

Kim's eyes fluttered shut as well the closer he got to her lips. Her voice dropped below a whisper at her last attempt to keep him from kissing her, "Saints do not move, though grant for prayer's sake."

Jack's eyes were now closed and he rubbed his nose against hers and his forehead rested on her forehead. They were so close that all he had to do was lean forward just a tad and he would have been kissing her. In the back of his mind, he knew this was wrong. He was acting upon Jack, not Romeo right now. Wdoviak had even instructed them not to kiss until he instructed them to do so in rehearsal. They were going against Wdoviak's wishes. But with her face so close to his own face Jack's head was scrambled. The words that he knew he should be staying, such as stop, did not even compute at the moment.

He gave her a quick Eskimo kiss with his nose as he let her hands go that he was one holding to keep her in place. His one hand dropped around her waist to pull her closer and the other brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face as he cupped her face, "Then" he said lowly, "move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged."

There was a brief hesitation. The pair of them knew that there was a kiss here. In the stage directions, he was supposed to kiss her and the pair of them feel in love and the play began its tragedy. But right now, Jack was afraid to kiss her. He knew he was not supposed to, he knew that Wdoviak would be furious if he found out, he knew that Kim knew all of these things. And yet, he was like a moon in her gravitational pull- he could not pull away.

So he hovered there for a moment trying to figure out what to do, but instead of kissing her the way that he wanted to, Kim spoke up. They were still in the same position and everything was filled with tension. The blonde whispered lowly as she entangled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, "Jack?" She said breaking character.

"Mhmmm?" He said softly as he held her like he was going to loose her.

"Jack," she repeated again. Her voice now had a slight waver to it, "Jack if you don't kiss me right now, I swear to god that you will-"

That was all it took to send Jack's lips crashing against her own. The blonde did not even get the chance to finish her sentence before he was kissing her with everything that he had and she was kissing him back. The pair of them leaned into one another so that their bodies seemed to be swaying back and forth with the power. Kim's hands pulled his neck down so that his lips could be as close to her as possible and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist.

The more they kissed, the more intense the two became in their battle for dominance. Kim's hands, that were still wrapped around Jack's neck, started to pull him with her so that her back was up against the wall in the hallway. Once her back was up against the wall, his hands started to travel up and down her back and his lips tried to kiss every part of her that he could possibly reach. He pushed against her lips hard and she pushed back equally as fierce.

Everything stopped for him, though, when he felt Kim's tongue running across his bottom lip. The two of them seemed to freeze as the implications of what they were doing seemed to settle into their bones. This was wrong. They were best friends and Jack did not want Kim to think that he saw her as this type of girl. He wanted to do things right with her. He wanted her to know that he cared about her more than any girl he had ever cared about.

So he started to pull his head away. But Kim grabbed the back of his neck and stopped him from pulling away. Her hands rubbed against the back of his neck, "Stop, please. Don't do this… Jack."

He closed his eyes and sighed. In spite of himself, he put his head up against her forehead, "Kim, I-I can't do this-"

"Look," she said with her voice sort of wavering, "Don't pull away from me, don't pull away from this. Just, just let me have this moment." Her voice dropped below a whisper, "Before we have to pretend again."

He thumb rubbed against her cheek desperately, "Kim… what do you want from me?"

"I want you," she said slowly, "I want you to kiss me. Please."

As much as he did not want to screw this up, whatever they had friendship wise, when she asked him to kiss her- he could not find himself able to say no. Everything about her was entrancing.

However, he did ask, "And then what Kim? I kiss you again and then what?" He did not want this to be the one time that they kissed liked this as Jack and Kim before they pretended that it never happened.

"And then, we worry about that when it gets there. But right now Jack, if you don't kiss me I swear I might scream."

And so he kissed her. He kissed her with everything he had. He kissed her slowly, quickly, passionately. He lifted her off of the ground and leaned her back against the wall before her legs wrapped around her waist. His fingers traveled up and down her back and through the strands of her hair. He kissed her hard and desperately. He wanted more of her. He wanted her to be more than just this moment.

But this time when she cautiously ran her tongue across his lips, he eagerly allowed her entrance. The pair of them seemed to tango with dominance. They fought about this situation with every kiss and every flick of their tongues. Jack seemed to beg her for answers about why and what awaited them after this moment. Kim seemed to relate that they would handle the situation later. All the while, they kissed and fought and begged for more. Their bodies and lips seemed to move together.

But they stopped short when they heard a door open. The pair of the jumped apart and Kim untangled herself from Jack's waist. Her feet touched the floor again and they found ample space between them as they moved to opposite ends of the hallway. Kim smoothed out the hair that Jack had disrupted and Jack straightened out his clothing that she had disturbed.

Then Jerry finally walked down the hallway to see the pair of them. Their faces were beat red and the oblivious Latino just told them, "Wdoviak wants to run a scene with the whole cast. We need you two as the dead bodies. Come on."

As Jerry walked back into the auditorium, the two teenagers looked at each other. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Kim cut him off, "No… don't say anything. We will handle this later. We have a rehearsal to go to."

The blonde then followed Jerry and left Jack alone in the hallway. His lips still tingled from her touch. She was all over him and in his marrow. Now…. He was certain of two things. One, that they had screwed up and done something that could potentially ruined their friendship. And two, he was absolutely in love with her.


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY EVERYONE! Sorry its taken me so long to update. Classes are in full swing, which means no time to post. BUT I posted for all of you today because I needed to get this out there for you. Its sort of an interesting chapter... so enjoy. ALSO REVIEW. Because when you all don't review I have no motivation to write XD**

****_Disclaimer- I don't own either entities  
_

His lips were bruised from all of their kissing. Kim seemed to overwhelm him every time that they did this. The pair of them, ever since they had kissed the first time that day in the hallway, had found times to themselves to be with one another. Every time they had this one on one private time, Kim would always initiate their kissing, to which Jack would eagerly engage himself. He wanted to kiss every part of her face, her arms and every part of her. She was like a poison that he would have willingly taken. However, it seemed that every time that he took her poison lips it was in some private place. And he could not decide if he was thrilled by this unspoken arrangement or thoroughly crushed by it emotionally. He had finally come to grips with the fact that it was a little bit of both emotions.

Jack wanted to be with Kim more than anything, but at the same time he knew that if they faced the music of their current arrangement they could seriously cross a line. Especially right now. The play was complicating everything. If they did not have to play at being in love in the show it would have made things much easier to face. But there was a very not so small of Jack that believed that Kim was only acting in this fashion because of the play. And he, if they talked about what they were doing, would be crushed if once the play was over everything ended. Kim was probably wrapped up in her part and what she was doing now was only a side affect of playing Juliet. It was not uncommon of the leading man and leading lady becoming romantically involved and after they had to stop pretended they feel apart. And Jack, who knew his feelings were sincere, could not handle this prospect with Kim. Besides, she had never given him any indication that what they had been doing recently was anything more than just casual.

Kim would never talk about their times in the hallways or the janitor's closet or her bedroom on the off times that her mother was not home when the pair of them together during their silent arrangement. Every time he tried to even ask what they were doing the blonde just shook her head and hushed him saying that they would figure out what this all meant at another time. However, the brunette knew what this meant to him- it meant that he wanted to be with her. And a small part of him wanted to believe that a part of her had to have wanted to be with him as well or else she would not have kissed him the way that she did. She would not have begged for his touch like she did. She would not have looked at him the way that she did. It was a look that he knew so very well because it was the very look that he gave her. But he also knew that he was grasping at straws with his wishes. Kim Crawford and Jack Anderson were friends. What was going on now was just a fool's dream- his foolish dream.

So, she kissed him in the shadows and laughed with him in the light. When others were around Kim never even showed a small glint of their secret affairs. She was obviously a much better actor than he was; in fact, he knew that was true because he could only be Romeo if she was Juliet. Everyone else at that callback could not meld with him. The only thing that Jack was capable of doing was being honest and when he looked at Kim he did not have to lie. He let his entire heart out on his sleeve.

Kim on the other hand seemed afraid of something, that was why she always quieted him. Every time the two of them were alone she would whimper and sigh and hold onto him for dear life. The blonde did not want to let him go in the heat of the moment and he retuned this sentiment. Yet, he could not understand why she would not just talk to him about what was going on between the two of them. He wanted more, he had a feeling she did as well. But every time that he ever considered breeching the topic with her he grew scared of being quieted again. It was a never-ending game. Each time he built up enough grit to try and bring up the topic she would just shut him down. Jack was so torn. He did not want to say anything that could potentially ruin their friendship… and maybe that was why Kim did not say anything either. Perhaps they both were just too afraid to say what they were feeling for fear of the other's rejection. Or at least that was his hope. Because the sad fact that she could not feel anything romantic toward him was too upsetting for him to face.

So he swallowed his pain and kept it all inside. Besides, he was Jack Anderson and he was not weak. Girls did not phase him. He was the boy who women fawned over. He was the guy that his friends adored and looked up to as a paragon of self-righteousness and human virtue. He was the son that always achieved and did his parents proud. And no, he was not haunted by this image. He had been living this life for as long as he could remember and he was okay with his life. In fact, he had a wonderful life and he loved being someone that his peers and family looked up to and counted on. It made him feel like, in a small way, he was doing something for someone beyond himself. However, the one problem with the person that Jack was inside and out was that the small parts of him that were insecure- that were mostly fixated around Kim related issues- he could not really show. People would not understand. They would tell him he was over thinking the issue. That obviously Kim liked him because of the small affair they had been carrying on with for the past week, but he did not believe this to be true. His perception was so jaded because he did not want to get hurt. His love for all of his friends and family and now his love for Kim was crippling. He would do anything to give and receive such emotions, but Kim was tricky. He did not want to lose her. She meant too much. And sometimes, the risk was not worth the loss.

Therefore, he went about his daily routine of karate and school and now play rehearsal. They had a few weeks left until the show opened and he wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. With his lines now memorized, he had to make sure that he did everything else in his power to not let his cast down. Because, as much as Jack and the rest of his friends did not want to admit it, he had grown quite attached to the theatre kids. It was true that they were dramatic and somewhat extremist in their methods to prepare for a scene- he still did not quite grasp how doing a sigh from the top of your voice to the bottom of it was an acting method- but they were good people. With the exception of Sarah, of course.

As rehearsals continued on, Sarah grew more and more embittered by the casting of Kim as Juliet. The brunette thought that Kim's casting was a pitiful ploy for Mr. Wdoviak to try and come on to his student. Not only did this thought sit horribly in Jack's stomach because of his own feelings for Kim, but it also infuriated Jack that the girl would sink so low as to hint at such a heinous accusation. Kim was not that type of girl nor was Wdoviak that type of teacher and director. He was a good man and if her rumors began to spread about the pair of them might have to face some serious accusations. Of course, none of it would be true, but he did not wish that on them. Sarah was starting to get out of control.

These vicious rumors that she spread about were only between herself and her friends, but now that Jack was initiated as a "theatre kid" he also heard these rumors in the small group of students. The brunette saw that the blonde attempted to pretend that she did not hear these accusations, but he knew her better then that. She was deeply saddened by the fact that people would assume that of her and think that of Mr. Wdoviak. Sarah was getting out of control and Kim was starting to let it get to her.

So as the two of them were alone together in her room, kissing on her bed he felt her pull away a little. He had a feeling as to why she had pulled away. At rehearsal earlier, Sarah had been speaking loudly enough so Kim could conveniently hear about a fictional rendezvous that Sarah had made up that day. Her story was so mean and catty that Jack nearly jumped off the stage were he was rehearsing at the time and ran her through with his saber. But Wdoviak snapped him back into fencing rehearsal with Jerry for their final battle. It distracted him enough that he did not fixate on doing horrible things to Sarah. Jack had never hurt a girl in his life; however, Sarah was starting to seriously test his restraint. She was a horrible human being.

Kim was very obviously upset by this rumor today and so, as they kissed, she had been distant. She was always a tad distant being that this was casual, which killed Jack inside, but this was more than he was accustomed to from her. So as she pulled away he propped his arms up so he was hovering over her instead of laying on top of her like he was earlier. He kissed her forehead and then leaned his own forehead against her own. With a soft, tender whisper he asked her, "Kim, what's wrong?"

She squirmed underneath him a little. He supposed she did not expect him to talk to her at all during their time together. Usually, the only time they talked was when Jack attempted to try and figure out what was going on between the two of them and Kim was shushing him into silence. Beyond those times, though, they never spoke. So the fact that Jack was asking her a more friendly, caring question as opposed to his usual question during these times surprised her. He could tell by the way that she would not meet his eyes. Instead of meeting his eyes, she tried to wiggle her way out from underneath him. However, he did not want her to run away from something that was bothering her. Because of this, he moved his arms from the opposite sides of her head and moved them to pin her arms over her head. That way she could not escape and she had to talk to him.

He gently leaned his head down and kissed her softly. It was a chaste kiss. There was no heat and passion behind it, but he felt like it was one of the more poignant kisses he had shared with her. This soft kiss, in its own small way, was his way to translate to her that he was not just here for kissing her. At the end of the day, he was always going to be her Jack- not just the Jack that the two of them were having trouble figuring out. Underneath all of the kisses and the silent longing was the boy who was still her friend and cared about her. He wanted her to know that he cared for her in that fashion still because he was starting to believe that she only saw him as the boy who wanted to kiss her. Of course he wanted to kiss her, but not for the reasons that she would have liked to believe.

Pulling away from his soft kiss, he kissed her eyelids- both softly and a second apart- and brushed the hair off of her face so it pooled around her face in a golden glow. "Kim," he began softly, as if he were asking a question, "Please tell me."

"Tell you what, Jack?" she snapped, trying to get him off of her. Her hands tried to push his chest off of her own as she went on, "There is nothing to talk about. Didn't you hear? I'm the student slut." Those words hit Jack like a ton of bricks. He felt his entire body tense up. How could she think that about herself? Especially when she was the farthest from that horrible nickname.

"Kim-" he said softly trying to make his point.

The feisty blonde pushed him hard on the chest to push him off of her, "Stop. I don't want to talk about this, okay? I'm a big girl, Jack. I can handle this… okay? Just leave it alone. You are only playing Romeo. You don't need to be mine."

His brown eyes looked straight into her own with nothing but hurt etched upon his face. Those words seemed to sink into Kim as well because all she did was turn her head the other way so she did not have to look at him. The blonde had screwed up. She had said something so horribly hurtful that Jack's entire body felt numb. So the brunette rolled off of her and pushed himself off of her bed.

Standing up beside her bed he reached down to grab his bag silently. He just did not want to be here anymore. If there was any doubts in his mind that Kim thought more of him than just this casual affair she had just shattered it. He supposed he should have been thankful. All this time he had been so worried that he would ruin their friendship if she found out that he liked her. Now, though, Jack would not be making that mistake. There was no need to tell her now. She made her feelings painfully known.

As he threw on his back pack, he heard her sigh in frustration. In spite of himself, he looked over at her and Kim looked completely at war with herself on her bed. She was laying there with one hand on her forehead and her eyes shut in anger. Jack wasn't sure who exactly she was angry with, but if she was mad at him he was not going to apologize for leaving. He knew that leaving wasn't exactly part of their unspoken deal, but he could not stay here right now.

So he collected himself and with one last look at her, he left. Jack closed the door behind himself and went home. There was just a numbness all around him like a dark, thick cloud. He had been kidding himself if he had ever even thought for a moment that there could have ever been anything between them. After all, they were just friends. Kim seemed to understand that- he had been the fool who did not.

Once he was home Jack walked right past his Mom and went up in his room. He lay there for what seemed like hours until finally his phone rang. With a groan he reached over and answered it, "Hello?" His voice was deep and emotionless. There was no one he really wanted to talk to right now and least of all Kim. But luckily the person on the other end of the line was not Kim- it was Jerry. Part of him secretly had wished it would have been Kim calling to apologize, but then again that was a foolish notion as well.

"Jack!" The Latino yelled through the phone.

"What Jerry?" Jack said rolling over on his side. He hated to be rude, especially to his best friend, but he did not really want to talk to anyone right now. Tomorrow was going to be a hard day at school, he just wanted some alone time now to sort out his head. Or sulk. He wanted to sulk as well because he was just so hurt by the whole thing.

But Jerry did not know any of this. Jack and Kim, when they had first started to hook up with one another a week ago, had mutually decided to keep their friends out of this arrangement. They did not want to explain themselves to their friends and he supposed now that did not matter. He and Kim were, if she did not catch his hint, done with this whole charade. He did not want to be hurt anymore.

However, his Latino friend did sound distressed, "We have a problem dude!"

The comment made Jack sit up in his bed and wipe his eyes to wake himself up a little. Was something wrong? He really hoped not. The last thing Jack needed right now was more bad news. "Is everything okay?" he asked sincerely concerned.

"No!" Jerry yelped, "Matt quit the show!"

Jack's eyes snapped open at the news. Matt quit? Matt Jonson was playing Mercutio in their show and without a Mercutio they were royally screwed. He was one of the most poignant characters in the show and the three boys, Matt, Jerry and Jack, had been practicing the duel now forever. The show opened in a few weeks. Barely three weeks to be exact. What were they going to do without a Mercutio. The show would have to be canceled.

And as much as Jack should have been upset it would be canceled, he was silently glad. Then he would not need to relive that moment with Kim today everyday at rehearsal. Every time he kissed her now he would not need to remember that she did not actual care. He could just go on with their friendship at the dojo and pretend that everything was okay. This was a blessing in disguise.

However, he did not want Jerry to know that he was thinking this. His best friend was not a very talented person at their dojo, but he had found a niche in this show. Jerry was really, really good at his part and he had never seen his friend so passionate about something. The Latino was brilliant at his part and that was no exaggeration. He had really taken this whole acting business to heart and he had been thriving at it. Every day Jerry surprised people more and more with his dedication and his acting savvy. So if the show were canceled his friend would be crushed. He had worked so hard.

"Jerry, man," Jack began, "I'm so sorry. What are they gonna do?"

Distressed Jerry spat out, "I don't know, Jack! Wdoviak sent out an email saying he might cancel the show because they have no replacement! No one else can learn it in time. It's freakin' Shakespeare."

"Well did you call Matt and ask him to reconsider?"

"Who do you think I called before you?" Jerry snapped. He heard a sigh through the phone, "Jack, look… this is important to me. Can you please just try and help me? Please."

Jack audibly sighed into the phone. This news had lifted a load from Jack's shoulders. The prospect of no Mercutio meant that there could be no show, which meant that he could go on pretending that he and Kim never had anything to do with each other beyond friendship. The pain of acknowledging that he knew her more now then before was too much to handle. It was numbing, it was crippling- it was love. He defied the stars. Fate was a cruel master.

But his friendship to Jerry meant more to him than just the average friend and Jerry was asking him for something. Jerry NEVER asked for help. It was part of his Hispanic pride, so the fact that he was going to him now in his time of need meant something. This show meant something to Jerry and Jack understood what it meant to have something that meant something in his life. Even now, he still did. She was that person for him. He assumed she always would be.

"I'll make some phone calls," Jack said running his hands through his hair, "Don't worry, Jer, I'll figure this out. I'll make it right."

He could not see his friend's face through the phone, but he could hear the smile in his tone when he replied, "You are the BEST, Jack. Thank you… you have no idea what this means." With a click, Jerry hung up the phone.

And to the empty room, Jack sighed, "I do know what this means Jerry." It meant that he had to acknowledge her romantically again. But he would never travel back down that road with her again. There were far worst fates then death. The way he saw it- Romeo had been the lucky one. He did not stick around long enough to be hurt by his Juliet.

Exhausted, Jack flipped himself over and held onto his pillow tightly. He would not cry. He did not do that, but if a few tears stained his pillow he would not deny them either.

The next day Jack walked into rehearsal he could feel the tension in the room. He did not even need to look to know where Kim was, he could feel her brown eyes burning into his very soul. But in spite of himself, he looked up and met her eyes. She glanced away the instant they connected, but for that brief moment he felt a warmth inside again. She enchanted him.

So he tore his eyes away from her own so that he did not need to be reminded of this fact every second. The only reason he was here was Jerry. After he had hung up with Jerry last night, Jack had come up with a brilliant idea. Actually, it was an idea that would save their show and help Jerry all at once in another department. Mercutio and Tybalt needed to have their fight and bygone they would have it.

As soon as Jerry saw Jack, the latino ran over to his friend and gave him a quick "bro" hug. Pulling away, he clapped his friend on the shoulder and asked, "Yo, man. Did you figure it out? Did you get someone to play the part?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah I did. And I already cleared it with Wdoviak. He loves the person and thinks it an awesome idea."

Jerry let out a breath that it looked like he had been holding all day. A soft smile fell on his lips as he sighed, "You did it? Dude…. You have no idea what this means to me, man."

Jack also put his hand on his friend's shoulder and laughed, "No Jer, I do. And you're my friend. You don't need to thank me. Trust me. To the moon and back, man."

His Latino friend laughed, "I think its so funny that we hate each other in this play because in real life I'd do anything for you, man. You're my best friend." Jack smiled at this comment and slapped his friend lightly on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't turn into a girl on me, Jer. I'll have to kick your ass if you do."

"Nah," Jerry chuckled, "I'll leave the girlish tendencies to you, Mr. Long Hair over there."

Jack feigned upset and said, "Hey! Don't hate on the 'do, Jerry. You know that I love Shelia with all of my heart." The black belt had been made fun of over the years for his obsession with his hair so much so that the dojo had taken the opportunity to name his hair. And the name they all had settled on was Shelia because they had all been watching Finding Nemo at the time. In fact, Kim was the one to suggest the name. Like a lot of things in Jack's life, his hair and the signifigance of it had been touched by Kim.

Before Jerry could speak up, Wdoviak called out to the group of teens and beckoned them to join him over by the stage. "Listen everyone. We know that Matt left the show yesterday… which left us in quite a pickle. We would have no conflict in our show if Mercutio went poof. BUT one of your castmates tirelessly searched for a replacement and found one. Everyone… can we please welcome Mika to our cast!"

That was when the Latvian girl walked out on stage and Jack could have sworn that his best friend's eyes popped out of his head. Mika and Jerry had dated when they were younger, but because of some mistakes that Jerry had made the two split. Ever since then Jerry had been looking for the perfect excuse to make amends. Mika was Jerry's Kim. The two boys always understood each other in that regard. And now that Mika had joined the cast the two would be spending a lot of time together. Jack almost beamed at his brilliance, but Jerry looked furious.

Before Wdoviak could even speak, Jerry yanked Jack out of the group and pulled him off to the side, "What the hell man! I said get a Mercutio not a Mika."

"Mika IS Mercutio!" Jack whispered back.

"No," Jerry snapped, "She's a girl. Mercutio is a boy!"

"Not always!" Jack whisper-yelled back, "Look, I did some research and a lot of people make either Mercutio or Tybalt a girl. Then they play it off like Mercutio and Tybalt are in love. THAT way when they kill each other it breaks the audiences' hearts. Dude, trust me. It'll be awesome."

"I won't be you and Kim!" Jerry snapped, "You aren't going to put Mika in the same situation you and Kim were in. How'd that work out for you Jack? Huh? I don't want that for us. I want to make amends my own way. You meddled big time, bro. I didn't ask you to do that."

Jerry was right, but what was done was done. "Too bad, Jer. You never do ANYTHING anyway with her. Its time that someone helped you out and if you weren't going to do it for yourself I was going to do it for you. You know it'll be good. I'm asking you to do something crazy- trust me."

The latino paused and nodded, "Fine. I trust you. But if this blows up in my face… I swear to god…"

"If this blows up in your face," Jack interrupted, "then it will be all my fault. But if it doesn't. You'll thank me."

And that was how Mika became Mercutio.


	6. Chapter 6

Ever since Mika had joined the cast Jerry and Jack's relationship had suffered a serious rift. The latino was so furious with the black belt that whenever the two of them spoke Jerry would end up yelling at him half way through the conversation. The problem was that Mika was a very serious subject for Jerry and Jack had sort of exploited that. It was not that Jack did it maliciously, but Mika being in the show was tough for Jerry.

The pair of them- Mika and Jerry- had dated a few years back. She made him go through all of these ridiculous tests to eventually become his girlfriend and once he completed them all they were very happy. Jack and all of his friends always poked fun at Jerry for being on cloud nine with her, but Jerry at the time did not seem to care. They did virtually everything together and his best friend was never so happy. But Jerry screwed up. A week before the two of them shared their one year anniversary, Jerry had gone to a party. High school was a place of temptation and parties went along with those temptations. At this party, there was a lot of alcohol and it was Jerry's first time dealing with it, so he made a lot of mistakes that night. Mistakes that spread throughout the school like wildfire. It did not take Mika long to find out.

Jerry still regretted his mistakes that night because it cost him Mika. He had spent the past two years trying to nullify his mistakes, but Mika did not want to hear him out. Jack had thought, in his infinite wisdom or stupidity, that by getting Mika in the show Jerry would have the chance to repair the rift, but Jerry did not look at it like that. His best friend saw bringing Mika into the equation as a betrayal of trust. He thought that Jack was trying to manipulate the situation, which was partially true. But Jack wanted to see his friend happy again. Ever sine the two of them had joined the show, Jerry had a new light in his eye. Shakespeare suited him, it was something that he was good at and Jerry cherished everything that he was good at. There were very few things Jerry was confident in and now Shakespeare was one of those things. So Jack wanted to give his friend something else to be happy about- Mika. Apparently he should not have meddled. Jerry verbalized as much.

As the show grew nearer and nearer though, it seemed to Jack that all of his friendships grew more and more strained. Jerry, who could not forgive him for his Mika trick, barely spoke to him unless it was absolutely neccessary, which stung. Jerry was the best guy friend that Jack had ever had. The pair of them did everything together and confided everything in each other. Without Jerry, Jack felt hopelessly lost. He couldn't talk to Milton or Eddie about half of the stuff he spoke to Jerry about. Eddie would always try and turn the conversation, whenever Jack spoke to him, about his own accomplishments because Eddie was so insecure. And whenever Jack spoke to Milton it became a lecture. They were good friends to Jack, but they were no Jerry. It was not a friendship of no boundaries or limits. And he had effectively ruined that. All because he wanted to meddle with Mika.

His friendships with the guys were not the only relationships of his that were suffering. Following the day that he left Kim's room, the two of them had not been able to complete a scene, a good scene, since. Every time that they worked together it was stale and contrived as if the two of them just wanted to get it over with. The scenes were getting so terrible that Wdoviak had told them to stop kissing until they figured out where they had hit a brick wall. The black belt had half a mind to tell his director that they were hitting a stand still because he was really in love with Juliet and she didn't care, but he felt that might have been a tad hasty.

Outside of rehearsals, he and Kim had not spoken. They exchanged hellos and all of the niceities, but anything beyond that were disregarded. He was not sure if it was her doing or his, this new manner of talking to each other, but someone was doing it. And it killed him. All he wanted to do half the time was wrap her up in his arms in the middle of the hallway and ravish her head to toe. Kiss her like he loved her for everyone to see, but he knew that she would only push him away. And, honestly, Jack was done being hurt all of the time. He needed some level of respect and she stripped him of it so much that day that he refused to be the one to make a move anymore. He was doing being love's idiot.

This show had affectively ruined Jack's life. He just wished- at this point- that the whole thing would just go away. That it would be done with, that someone would quit and force them all to just stop the show. In fact, he had considered quitting a few times himself, but he could not bring himself to crush all of everyone's hard work. Even now, after everything, he still cared too much. Sometimes he wished he could just turn it all off; make everything as if he did not care so that he could live his life the way that best suited him, but he was not that man, he was a good man, which sucked. He wished he were worse of a person, he wish he were worse of a friend, he wish he had less of a moral code. But he had all of those things, it was what made him Jack.

So when he stumbled into practice that day and threw his bag down in his usual seat, he resigned himself to his fate. This was his world right now- this stage and auditorium. It was all his life at the moment and he had to embrace that it would continue to be so until the show was over. Until his life had been returned to him, but he knew it would never be the same. Even when the show was done and more regular dojo practices came up and his free time was spent at Phil's, this show had changed him and his friends. They were all different now and he wasn't sure if they could ever get what they had back again.

He missed them.

As Jack was lost in his thought's Kim and Jerry were on stage discussing the boy. He only snapped out of his thoughts to notice the conversation because he heard hair spray and that was sort of his mating call. He heard the phrase hair spray and he was up and running. His hair was not the product of sheer, dumb luck. It took time and energy.

But, regardless, he heard the pair of them discussing him and found himself inching over toward the front of the stage so he could hear their musing.

"-with Mika was not cool, Kim. I mean, you guys know how much I care about her, yo." Jerry whispered to Kim as the two of them pretended to prepare for lines. Jack knew that he had come into the conversation a tad late, but it was obvious that they were talking about him. The hair spray comment and the stuff about Mika was a dead give away. They were being so obvious that they might as well have been wearing a sign. Luckily, for Jack, they were so wrapped up in their conversation that they did not notice Romeo himself standing at the lip of the stage.

Kim brushed a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and chewed on her lip, the very motion that almost always drove Jack mad, and said, "I know, Jer, but I do think he was trying to help you, in his way." That comment made Jack pause. In his own way? Was it possible that Kim was defending him if even for a little? It was unbelievable to him that she could even think to defend him after the way that she had treated him, which he had still not forgotten.

The Latino rolled his eyes and said with a pout, "Please Kim. Save me your bullshit. You're only saying that because you two are making out."

"Am not!" Kim snapped back at him. Her face was flushed red. He wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger, but either way she was red in the face. He knew that the most reasonable explanation was anger, but there was a small piece of him that wanted to think that he had made her blush. The blond drove him crazy and he wanted to at least think in his head that he might have done the same for her.

Jerry rose his eyebrow and asked in a concerned voice, which made a jealous, green monster pop up in Jack, which was ridiculous because he knew how Jerry felt about Mika, "So I take it you two still aren't talking?"

She shook her head no and nibbled at the bottom of her lip. It took everything in Jack to not jump up on the stage and pin her down to the floor and kiss her right then and there. The girl had to know how beautiful she was to him, she had to know that whenever he looked at her his heart skipped a beat and he was fine with that because it was her. Anyone else he would have felt like an idiot, but she was never like that for him. WHAT WAS HE THINKING? She was like that for him. She had told him off and made it clear how she felt to him. Why was he even thinking these things? Kimberly Crawford messed with his mind.

Still nibbling on her lip, she told Jerry, "No… he won't even look at me. He's my best friend, Jerry, I didn't mean to hurt him, but we're playing parts. At least, I thought we were."

Jack had thought before that his heart was broken. He had thought that night when he left her house that Kimberly Crawford had taken his heart and shattered it beyond repair, but that feeling then was only a fraction of what he was feeling right now. Those words stung like alcohol being poured into a fatal wound, it stung like seven million stings, it stung more than breaking every bone in his body. His heart was shattered. He could feel it actually. It was held up in a small pile on the floor. And there was no way that he was going to be able to put it back together now.

Gathering himself together, he stormed out of the auditorium rather loudly. On his way out he kicked open the door to the auditorium and slammed his combat boots on the ground as he walked. The black belt was almost certain that the entire auditorium had gone to a stand still as he left, but as his granddad would say- he didn't give a shit. He was angry, in fact, that he was not even aware of the person following him out of the auditorium.

As he ran down the main, outdoor steps of the school that was when he finally heard a voice calling after him. The very voice that had just shattered his heart, "Jack! Jack, wait up. Jack slow down!" The blond finally caught up with him and grabbed him by his forearm, "Jack wait."

He shrugged her off forcefully and said with a growl, "Don't touch me, Kim. Get off!" Her eyes blinked with surprise and started to water a little and as much as he wanted to reach out and envelope her in a comforting hug, her last words still rung in his head. They played over and over again like a broken record that he could not seem to get silent. It killed him on the inside because he knew that those words would probably always be the undercurrent of his veins. Always there like a poison reminding him that he was a fool. A fool, indeed.

And that was when she started to cry and slam into his chest with her fists in anger, but he did not stir. He was deeply planted to the ground like a tree with his roots firmly in place. As she hit him and cried, he seemed seemingly unphased, but on the inside he was screaming. With each hit, though, she punctuated another word, "You did this, Jackson Anderson! YOU! Why do you keep doing this?"

In a deadpan, monotone voice, he said, "Oh really? What did I do?" All the while she pounded on his chest.

"You keep making this so hard. Why can't we just be friends and not address it? Why do you feel the need to complicate it?"

That was when he grabbed her hands and removed them from his chest, "Don't worry, Kim, I won't make that mistake again. I'm done."

And then that was when something unexpected happened- she kissed him. She kissed him angrily and full of passion and with so much vigor that he almost fell backwards. It took him a moment to recover from the shock, but then he was kissing her back. He was holding her tightly and roaming his hands all over her back on the front steps to the school.

In the back of his head, his logic was screaming for him to stop and remember what she had said to Jerry and to acknowledge everything that she knew, but he could not stop. There was something more deeply routed in him to kiss her then to pull away. He did not have the strength to resist. So he held her closer to him and almost ripped her shirt as he held onto it as a life line. As if, if he let go, she would disappear into thin air.

After several long moments of kissing, she finally pulled away with red lips and stained, mascara cheeks and to him she was more beautiful now then ever before. But what she said next surprised him. "Where is your car?"

He just blinked at her for a few moments before he mumbled out its location, "Side lot."

"Let's go, Anderson." And Jack could not help but be stunned at her. His mind, which was usually face paced due to karate and reflexes, was completely stunned and in shock from everything that had and was happening. Like a zombie he let her lead him to his car. When they finally got there, she unlocked the back doors and pushed him inside. Jack was so confused he could not even comprehend what was happening.

The next thing he did know for certain, though, was that he was being pinned down to the cushions of the backseat of his car and Kim Crawford was straddling him and kissing him with everything that she had. All he could do was blink and sort of go through the motions of kissing her.

He was seriously confused. What did all of this mean? And what was happening.

He did not know. What he also did not know was that as the two of them spent time together in the car, a rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet went to a standstill. Without the two leads they could do very little, but inside that car the two teens did not care. They were too busy drinking in every part of each other…. And Jack was confused. He was so confused, but he was done with getting no answers. As soon as Kim returned his lips to him he was going to ask what was going on. He needed answers and he was going to get them.

He just wasn't sure if he was ready to get them or not.


End file.
